10/21/2026
Almost half of small employer firms now use AI. Only about three in ten of the firms in the survey reported higher sales from it.
The New York Fed published the numbers on October 8. From 5,248 employer firms, 46% use AI tools and another 15% plan to within a year. About half of users have integrated it into processes, yet 77% saw no change in labor costs. Users are far more optimistic: their net revenue expectations ran 14 points higher even after controls. Expectations aren't results, and the data is correlational.
Put that next to McKinsey's State of Organizations 2026, a survey of 10,018 executives. Companies that rapidly reallocate talent and resources were 2.2 times more likely to outperform on shareholder return. Only 30% do it enterprise-wide, and 38% blame rigid structures for slow response.
Here's the resource-based view in plain English. Tools anyone can buy are not an advantage. The ability to move people and money to the new opportunity this week is, and a smaller firm can do that faster than a giant.
If you're a founder, the question isn't which tool to buy. It's which decision, process, or person you can redeploy because the tool exists.
More on building organizations that serve and adapt: https://deemedessential.org/
What did AI free up in your business that you actually reallocated?
