How many Swiss SMEs actually use AI in 2026?
About three out of four Swiss SMEs now use or are testing AI. In the 2026 AXA labour-market study, 35% of SMEs with five or more employees had built AI into their processes and 39% were testing it, leaving 26% not using it at all. Two years earlier, 45% were not using it.
The numbers, year by year
AXA Switzerland's annual SME labour-market study (run with research institute Sotomo) tracks adoption among small and medium-sized companies:
2024: 22% had built AI into processes, 33% were testing, 45% did not use it.
2025: 34% built in, 37% testing, 29% not using.
2026: 35% built in, 39% testing, 26% not using.
The jump happened between 2024 and 2025. The 2026 figures show adoption still growing, but structured, embedded use is levelling off - and smaller firms are falling behind: only 23% of companies with fewer than ten employees have clear rules on what data staff may enter into AI tools, versus 34% overall.
What Swiss SMEs use AI for
Per the 2025 study, the most common uses are practical, everyday tasks:
Translation: 52%
Correspondence: 47%
Automating work processes: 34% (up from 23% in 2024)
Data analysis: 32% (up from 22%)
Targeted advertising: 24%
Customer relationship management: 20%
What it means for jobs
The feared job wave has not shown up in this data. Only 2% of companies say they cut staff because of AI productivity gains, while 10% say AI created new positions. 57% of employers report improved efficiency. The shift is in the skills employers look for, not in headcount.
The gap that matters
Adoption is no longer the story - governance is. A third of SMEs have no rules for what data goes into AI tools. That is where the real risk sits: client data, contracts and internal numbers pasted into tools whose data handling nobody checked.
If your company is in the 39% still "testing", the next step is usually not more tools. It is one clear use case, basic data rules, and someone accountable for the result.
Sources
Last updated: 20 October 2026.
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