Generative AI and the SME Workforce

This report examines the potential for generative AI - tools that generate text, images, video or audio, such as ChatGPT, Copilot and Midjourney - to help SMEs address labour and skill needs. It presents evidence from a representative 2024 OECD survey of over 5 000 SMEs in Austria, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Korea and the United Kingdom, on how SMEs use generative AI, how its use may be helping to address labour and skill needs, and how SMEs are preparing employees to use generative AI. The survey shows that generative AI is in use in 31% of SMEs. SMEs report that generative AI improves performance, helps compensate for skill gaps and labour shortages, and increases the need for highly-skilled workers. SMEs have concerns about copyright, legal and regulatory issues, though negative attitudes towards generative AI are rare. The findings highlight the promise of generative AI but also the need for structured policy support to close digital and skills gaps between SMEs and larger firms and to ensure that any gains from generative AI are broadly shared across the economy and the workforce.