How North Carolina Businesses Are Using Artificial Intelligence
- NC adoption closely tracks the national average
- Knowledge-intensive industries have the highest adoption rates
- Larger firms are more likely to use AI
- About 97% of AI-using businesses report no change in employment
1 in 5 NC Businesses Use AI, but Employee AI Use is Slightly Higher
Only 18.9% of North Carolina businesses report using AI, meaning most have not yet adopted it. Looking ahead, planned adoption rises modestly to 22.4% over the next six months, though more than half still say they do not plan to use AI.
Survey question: “In the last two weeks, did this business use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in any of its business functions?”
Survey question: “During the next six months, do you think this business will be using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in any of its business functions?”
Employee AI use may be slightly ahead of formal business adoption in North Carolina. While 18.9% of businesses have intentionally implemented AI in their operations, 23.2% report that employees are using tools such as ChatGPT or Copilot for work tasks, not necessarily as part of a company-wide initiative.
Survey question: “In the last six months, did this business’s employees use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to assist in any work-related tasks that support business functions?”
AI Adoption Is Highest in Knowledge-Intensive Industries
AI adoption varies significantly across industries. Knowledge-intensive sectors — information, professional services, education, and finance — lead by a wide margin. Industries involving physical work, such as agriculture, transportation, and construction, lag behind. Manufacturing, a key sector in North Carolina’s economy, falls in the lower half.
Survey question: “In the last two weeks, did this business use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in any of its business functions?”
Larger Firms Are More Likely to Use AI
Larger businesses are more likely to use AI, but the gap is not as dramatic as the industry differences. Even among the smallest firms, close to 1 in 5 report using AI.
Survey question: “In the last two weeks, did this business use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in any of its business functions?”
Sales, Marketing, and Strategy Are the Top Business Functions For AI Use
AI use is concentrated in customer-facing and strategic functions, like sales, marketing, strategy, and R&D. Operational functions such as production, distribution, and supply chain management have seen lower adoption.
Survey question: “In the last six months, did this business use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in any of the following business functions?”
Writing and Editing Are the Most Common GenAI Tasks
About 1 in 5 NC businesses report employees using generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Copilot. The vast majority use it for writing and editing. Searching for information and summarizing documents are also common. More technical uses, like coding, remain relatively rare overall. However, coding and debugging is more prevalent in the Information (34%) and Professional and Technical Services (24%) sectors.
Survey question: “In the last six months, what work-related tasks did this business’s employees use Generative AI to assist with?”
AI Is Used to Supplement Employee Work Far More Often Than Replace It
Among businesses that use AI, most are using it to enhance what employees already do, not to replace them. The share using AI to supplement work is roughly four times the share using it to replace tasks.
Survey question: “In the last six months, did this business use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to do any of the following?”
When AI does displace something, it is more likely to replace existing software or equipment than employee tasks.
Of the businesses where AI has replaced employee tasks, most report a small number of tasks affected. NC businesses in this group were slightly more likely to replace a larger number of tasks than the national average.
Survey question: “In the last six months, how many tasks previously done by employees were instead performed by Artificial Intelligence (AI)?”
AI Has Had Little Effect on Employment or Business Operations
For the vast majority of businesses using AI, it has not changed how many people they employ.
Survey question: “In the last six months, how did the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) affect this business’s total employment?”
Most AI-using businesses have not made operational changes to support it. Among the few that have, developing new workflows and training current staff are the most typical investments.
Survey question: “In the last six months, to use Artificial Intelligence (AI), what changes did this business make?”
Most Businesses Not Planning to Adopt AI Say It Is Not Relevant to Their Business
The most frequently cited reason for not planning to adopt AI is that it is "not applicable" to their business. A lack of knowledge about what AI can do is the second most significant barrier. Together, these suggest that awareness and perceived relevance are larger obstacles than affordability or technical readiness.
Survey question: “Why does this business not plan to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) during the next six months?”
NC Closely Tracks the National Average Across All Key Indicators
Across all the measures in this survey, North Carolina closely tracks the national average. The differences are small and within the margin of error.
| Indicator | NC | U.S. | Diff. (pp) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Used AI in any business function (last 2 weeks) | 18.9% | 17.9% | +1.0 |
| Employees used GenAI for work tasks (last 6 mo.) | 21.5% | 20.8% | +0.7 |
| Employees used any AI for work tasks (last 6 mo.) | 23.2% | 22.6% | +0.6 |
| Plan to use AI in next 6 months | 22.4% | 21.6% | +0.8 |
| Do not plan to use AI in next 6 months | 56.4% | 56.2% | +0.2 |
| Unsure about future AI use | 21.2% | 22.2% | −1.0 |
NC Ranks Third in the Southeast and Keeps Pace with Major State Economies
AI adoption is broadly similar across Southeastern states. The range from lowest to highest is only a few percentage points, with North Carolina falling near the middle of the range.
Among the largest U.S. state economies, North Carolina is keeping pace with Texas and California while outpacing New York.
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