EY Survey: Over 70% of U.S. Entrepreneurs Have Integrated AI, Generally Require Clear Return on Investment

According to Forbes, consulting firm EY conducted a survey of 500 U.S. business owners with annual revenues exceeding $5 million. The results show that over 75% of respondents have integrated AI into business processes at least partially, with 10% having achieved full implementation. Entrepreneurs' expectations for AI center on three major areas: driving revenue growth through sales and marketing (57%), reducing operating costs (55%), and improving customer experience (49%). However, due to the difficulty in quantifying the actual benefits of AI, over one-third of respondents reduced technology spending, including AI, in the past year, generally exhibiting a prudent attitude of "seeing returns first, then increasing investment." In terms of talent and organization, 88% of respondents expect employee headcount to expand within the next 12 months, 42% are redesigning job responsibilities to integrate human-machine collaboration capabilities, but 46% of respondents also point out that insufficient talent and professional expertise are the main obstacles to implementing AI at scale.