Artificial intelligence may dominate corporate strategy meetings but most Canadian small business owners said it has done little to change how they run their business, according to new survey data from commercial insurance broker Zensurance.
Nearly a third (32%) of the 1,000 owners, entrepreneurs and self-employed professionals polled for the firm's 2026 Small Business Confidence Index said AI had made little or no difference to their business. A further 27% said they were unsure how the technology applied to their work at all.
Where owners had noticed an effect, the results were uneven. One in four reported a positive impact, but only 9% said AI had delivered meaningful productivity gains or cost savings. Another 7% said it had cost them revenue or clients.
When asked about their plans, owners ranked AI below more conventional growth moves. Some 26% intend to launch new products or services, 22% plan to enter new markets and 20% expect to buy new tools or equipment. Only 15% plan to learn about or invest in AI.
The gap widened when respondents were asked how they would spend a hypothetical $10,000 grant. About a quarter (26%) would hold it back to support cash flow, 20% would pay down debt and 17% would buy tools or equipment. Just 7% would put it toward AI.
Among owners with worries about the technology, competitive pressure topped the list, with 13% concerned AI would make their products or services less competitive. Another 10% doubted AI tools were accurate enough to trust, and 9% cited job losses.
"This year's findings show they are prioritizing stability, operational strength and resilience," said Danish Yusuf, CEO and founder of Zensurance. Yusuf said owners were constantly weighing where to spend limited time and money.
The findings are broadly in line with federal figures. Statistics Canada's Canadian Survey on Business Conditions found that 12.2% of businesses used AI to produce goods or deliver services over the 12 months to spring 2025, double the 6.1% recorded a year earlier. In the same survey, 41.2% of businesses said investing in AI was not relevant to their operations.
A later round of the survey, published in August 2025, found 14.5% of businesses planned to use AI over the following 12 months. That leaves the large majority with no plans at all.
The two surveys are not directly comparable. Statistics Canada covers employer businesses, while the Zensurance index also includes sole proprietors and the self-employed. Those groups are arguably even less likely to have the time or budget to experiment.
The AI results are the latest release from an index that has tracked a steady fall in sentiment. Confidence stood at 49% this year, down from 58% in 2025 and 70% in 2024.
Earlier findings from the same survey showed that 61% of respondents operate with no business insurance. Four in five said they held three months of cash reserves or less.
The index was conducted through Pollfish, an online panel, among self-selected respondents. It is not a probability sample.
For commercial brokers, the more telling signal may be less about AI adoption than about what owners are choosing to protect. A client base that puts cash reserves and debt repayment ahead of new technology is one where insurance premiums compete directly with survival spending. The same index suggests coverage often loses that contest.
The technology does not disappear from the risk picture simply because owners are not using it. Last year's edition of the index found that one-third of owners already saw AI-driven cybercrime as a major threat. Small businesses slow to adopt AI may still be among the first to feel its downside, through phishing, fraudulent transfers and impersonation scams that cost nothing to launch.
