Small biz says AI will let them hire fewer people

Small business owners are confident AI will not replace them or their current employees, but prospects look less positive for future employees, as many say AI will mean they won't need to hire as many people.

This was the finding of a recent poll published by small business management software provider FreshBooks. Two-thirds of small business owners disagreed with the idea that AI might replace them or their employees. At the same time, a major proportion — 44% — said they expect to hire fewer people in the future due to AI capabilities. The larger the business, the more likely it was they agreed with this statement.

"Anxiety over AI has been growing lately, with workers in certain industries expressing concerns that their jobs will be replaced," said Mara Reiff, chief data officer at FreshBooks. "In the world of small business, it appears that owners don't feel particularly threatened and don't believe artificial intelligence can do their jobs just as well as they can. On the other hand, their eyes are wide open to the potential of using AI as a support to help them scale." 

Which employees and in which functions would be hired less is still up in the air, however. The poll found that while 25% are currently experimenting with AI, of those who are not, 46% said they were not yet clear on how generative AI (technology like ChatGPT and Bard) could benefit their business and 32% said they were unsure of how to begin applying generative AI to their businesses. Overall, though, 60% of small business owners agree that AI will dramatically change their business within the next five years. Owners who have employees were more likely to agree with this statement than those without. 

The FreshBooks survey polled 1,000 U.S. and Canadian small business owners across various industries in May. The study's margin of error is plus or minus 5% at 95% confidence.