PLUS: SMB's AI adoption jumps 18%, and CXOs secretly use AI for strategy

Afternoon All, AI shopping agents are shifting consumer behaviour by prioritising price over brand loyalty for 52% of users, forcing smart businesses to rethink whole customer experience strategy. If customers are using dispassionate AI agents, how does a brand succeed without getting caught in a price race to the bottom? Brands that come up with the best solution to this will dominate, the ones that don't will become obsolete.

Separately, an 18% surge in small business AI adoption signals a rapid democratisation of the technology, but with 13% of firms reporting breaches does this growth outpace our current ability to manage its risks?

Today's dots:

• Retail transformed by AI shopping agents
• Small businesses reach 58% AI adoption
• 13% report critical AI security breaches
• OpenAI's enterprise business land grab
• 54% of CXOs secretly use AI for decisions

AI Shopping Agents Reshape Retail: Can Your Brand Keep Up?

Here's the thing: AI shopping assistants now prioritise price over brand loyalty for 52% of consumers, and businesses must rethink customer experiences or risk becoming invisible. BCG reports this shift could turn decades of marketing strategy on it's head.

Let's unpack that:

• AI agents comparison shop your products against thousands in milliseconds, with 52% of consumers now using them, often seeing only prices and specs without brand identifiers
• Retailers using unified customer platforms see 27% lower bounce rates by making AI-referred shoppers feel recognised instantly
• McKinsey urges building "competitive moats" through proprietary data insights that generic AI assistants can't replicate
• Adobe found AI-directed shoppers stay 32% longer per visit, but only if your UX matches their hyper-personalised expectations
• Winning requires reimagining discovery, not just competing on algorithms

If you remember nothing else: AI won't delete your brand, but it will delete lazy customer experiences. Those merging proprietary data with anticipatory service will dominate the agent-driven future.

Small businesses hit 58% AI adoption

Here's the thing: 58% of US small businesses now use AI tools like ChatGPT - an 18% jump since last year. The leading entrepreneurs surveyed are showing how to boost productivity without losing that all-important human touch, according to a new Chamber of Commerce report.

Let's unpack that:

• That 58% adoption rate climbs to 67% in certain regions making small businesses the hidden drivers of the AI revolution
• The marketing agencies currently setting pace don’t just automate content with tools like Jasper – they create custom AI voice agents that handle client calls while maintaining human oversight
• Consultancies use AI to accelerate research phases, with team members treating it as a ‘brainstorming partner’ NOT a replacement for critical thinking
• Even sceptics gain value. Some real estage agents admit AI helps cover decision-making bases they might otherwise miss
• The watchword? Balance. One CEO said : "A tool that doesn’t have some AI feels incomplete - but clients still want human 'ahs' and 'ums'"

If you remember nothing else: Small businesses prove AI works best when it amplifies human strengths rather than replacing them. The 18% adoption surge signals how quickly lean teams turn experimental tech into daily profit drivers.

The AI security wake-up call every leader needs

Here's the thing: 13% of businesses reported compromised AI systems last year (IBM Research) - and the top threats aren't what you'd expect. From poisoned data to devilishly clever phishing, here's how to armour your AI rollout.

Let's unpack that:

• Data poisoning tricks AI systems by contaminating its training material (like teaching a self-driving car that stop signs mean 'accelerate'). Clean inputs matter more than ever
• Adversarial attacks use AI-generated inputs that look normal to humans but completely fool algorithms - hackers already exploit this to bypass security systems
• Third-party risks hide in your AI supply chain - 97% of breached companies lacked proper vendor access controls (IBM)
• Prompt injection turns helpful chatbots into secret informants, leaking data through carefully worded 'innocent' questions

If you remember nothing else: AI breaches aren't just IT headaches - they decimate customer trust and revenue. 2026's winners will treat AI security like financial auditing: proactive, documented, and non-negotiable.

OpenAI's enterprise dominance just hit new heights

Here's the thing: Nearly 37% of US businesses now pay for OpenAI tools - a record high that leaves competitors trailing, according to Ramp's latest analysis.

Let's unpack that:

• 46.6% of companies now use paid AI services - with OpenAI capturing over 3X more clients than closest rival Anthropic (16.7% adoption)
• This isn't just chatbots - businesses now embed AI into core workflows like code generation, customer service routing and financial analysis
• Google's 4.3% adoption likely undercounts real usage, as many access Gemini through existing Workspace subscriptions
• Free tools and 'shadow AI' (employees using personal accounts) mean these numbers are conservative estimates

If you remember nothing else: Enterprise AI has shifted from pilot projects to business-critical infrastructure. Leaders who haven't formalised their adoption strategy risk being outpaced by data-driven competitors.

Over half of executives now use AI secretly for big decisions

Here's the thing: 54% of CXOs are quietly using AI to inform strategic decisions while avoiding public disclosure, according to new Capgemini research.

Let's unpack that:

• 54% of executives now use AI selectively or actively for decisions, yet only 11% publicly admit it. Most fear reputational damage if AI-influenced choices backfire, per Capgemini's survey of 500 CXOs
• Companies plan to boost AI budgets to 5% of total spending in 2026 (up from 3%) while pausing low-value projects, focusing instead on high-impact areas like infrastructure and governance
• ROI measurements are evolving beyond cost-cutting. 64% now track revenue growth and customer experience improvements as key success metrics
• Data sovereignty has become a top priority, with 54% of organisations insisting on controlling where their AI-training data resides
• Two-thirds of leaders admit FOMO drives strategy. The fear of a competitor outpacing them if they don't scale AI fast enough is a bigger driver than the fear of wasting money by doing it badly.

If you remember nothing else: Businesses are implementing AI faster than they're willing to admit, this quiet revolution demands new governance frameworks. Tomorrow's leaders will need to balance AI's decision-making speed and power with transparent stakeholder communication, and water tight security measures.

The Shortlist

Northern Ireland embrace AI tools at an 83% adoption rate but 73% lack formal policies, revealing a governance gap even as businesses report productivity gains from ad hoc AI usage.

Sabre invests in AI startup BizTrip.AI to develop corporate travel assistants using natural language processing for bookings and policy automation, aiming to enhance TMC efficiency in itinerary management.

Workday finds 40% of time saved by AI is spent correcting errors, with frequent users doing the most rework, highlighting efficiency paradoxes as 87% of employees now use AI weekly.

Cisco's research reveals only 13% of companies are "Pacesetters" fully leveraging AI, emphasizing that successful adoption hinges on leadership trust and human-AI collaboration rather than pure technical capability.