Business Trends and Outlook Survey — AI use series and the November 2025 question-wording change

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Under the original wording — AI use "in producing goods or services" — the fortnightly BTOS AI use rate rose from 3.7% in September 2023 to 5.4% in February 2024 and reached roughly 10% by late 2025. On 17 November 2025 the question was rewritten to ask about use "in any of its business functions", with the supplement expanded to fifteen functions, and the reported national rate stood at 17.3%; through December 2025 to May 2026 the rate ran between about 17% and 20%, with about 37% among firms of at least 250 employees and 32% among firms of 100–249 employees in the period ending 3 May 2026. V55 verification basis: no Census page was fetched. The early series, the 17 November 2025 rewording, the 17.3% figure, the 17–20% band and the firm-size breakdown were carried in search results attributing them to Census BTOS releases and documentation and to the St. Louis Fed commentary on the wording change.

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