In short: Only one in five UK manufacturers use AI, and that share has barely moved in a year. Of those that do, 61% have trained no staff to use it, according to the latest ONS figures. The tools are cheap and easy to find, so the technology isn’t what’s holding the sector back. Knowing where AI fits, and teaching people to use it there, is the real gap.
Figures: ONS Business Insights and Conditions Survey, September 2026 (Wave 165)
Ask a manufacturer why they haven’t done more with AI and you’ll often hear about cost, or about the tools not being ready yet. The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics point somewhere else.
Only 20% of UK manufacturers use any AI technology, against 30% of businesses overall. Of the manufacturers that do use it, 61% haven’t given a single member of staff any training in it. That’s the second-highest share of any sector we track, behind only construction.
Meanwhile, fewer than 2% of manufacturers say they couldn’t find a suitable AI product. The gap is in people and planning rather than software. You can see every sector side by side in our study of UK AI adoption statistics.
One in Five Manufacturers Use AI, and That Hasn’t Changed in a Year
AI use across UK business has climbed steadily since 2023. According to the ONS, the share of firms using at least one AI technology rose from 9% in September 2023 to 30% in September 2026.
Manufacturing grew quickly at first, from 7% to 22% by September 2025. Since then it has hovered around one in five, and the latest reading is 20%. Over the same year, the national figure rose by six points.
Manufacturers Have Fallen Behind since 2025
| Survey wave | Manufacturers using AI | All businesses using AI |
|---|---|---|
| September 2023 | 6.7% | 9.4% |
| September 2024 | 11.9% | 14.7% |
| September 2025 | 21.7% | 23.5% |
| December 2025 | 21.9% | 24.7% |
| March 2026 | 18.9% | 25.9% |
| June 2026 | 21.6% | 28.9% |
| September 2026 | 20.2% | 29.7% |
Percentage of businesses reporting use of at least one AI technology, all size bands. “Not sure” answers are not counted as use. Sector samples are smaller, so readings move more between waves. Source: Office for National Statistics, Business Insights and Conditions Survey, Waves 92 to 165 (September 2023 to September 2026). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Plans for the coming months don’t point to a rebound either. Four in five manufacturers (82%) say they have no plans to adopt any AI technology in the next three months, against 71% of businesses overall.
Six in Ten Manufacturers Using AI Have Trained No One
Among the manufacturers that have adopted AI, 61% say no member of staff has received any training in it. Across all AI-using businesses, the figure is 48%. Only one sector we track does worse, and that’s construction, at 68%.
Serious training is rarer still. Just 10% of AI-using manufacturers have trained more than half their workforce, about half the national rate of 20%. When manufacturers do set out to build AI skills, fewer of them choose training as the way to do it. Around 26% are training or retraining existing staff, compared with 32% of businesses overall.
How Much of the Workforce Has Been Trained in AI
| Share of staff trained in AI | AI-using manufacturers | All AI-using businesses |
|---|---|---|
| No staff trained | 61.1% | 47.7% |
| 1% to 24% | 15.4% | 13.7% |
| 25% to 49% | 1.7% | 5.7% |
| 50% to 75% | 4.5% | 2.7% |
| More than 75% | 5.6% | 17.0% |
| Not sure | 11.7% | 13.2% |
Percentage of businesses by the share of their workforce that has received training in the use of AI. Base: businesses that report using at least one AI technology, or are not sure whether they do. Rows may not sum to 100 because of rounding. Source: Office for National Statistics, Business Insights and Conditions Survey, Wave 165 (21 September to 4 October 2026). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
That matters because AI that nobody has been shown how to use rarely gets used for much. We’ve covered the national picture in our post on why 48% of businesses using AI give staff zero training. In manufacturing, the same problem shows up in sharper form.
The Tools Are Cheap. Knowing Where They Fit Is the Hard Part
Cost and access look like weak excuses in this data. Six in ten AI-using manufacturers (60%) got their AI through free-to-use software, well ahead of the 41% of businesses overall. A third (33%) have invested nothing in AI over the past year, and a further 40% have spent under £10,000.
So what is holding the sector back? When the ONS asked what had held back AI adoption, manufacturers most often said they couldn’t identify a use for it (13%). Cost came next at 11%, followed by a lack of AI expertise at 8%.
What Has Prevented or Delayed AI Adoption
| Barrier | Manufacturers | All businesses |
|---|---|---|
| Difficulty identifying a use for AI | 12.7% | 6.2% |
| Cost | 11.0% | 7.7% |
| Lack of AI expertise | 8.4% | 9.3% |
| Lack of trust in AI | 8.3% | 9.2% |
| Security concerns | 5.4% | 6.8% |
| No suitable product available | 1.9% | 1.8% |
| Nothing has held us back | 45.4% | 49.0% |
Percentage of businesses reporting each factor as having prevented or delayed AI adoption. Businesses can report more than one barrier. Base: all businesses in the group, including those that have not tried AI. Source: Office for National Statistics, Business Insights and Conditions Survey, Wave 165 (21 September to 4 October 2026). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Across businesses as a whole, a missing use case is a much rarer complaint, at 6%. Manufacturers aren’t short of tools. What they lack is a clear idea of where AI belongs in a business built around production.
That’s where training earns its keep. Staff who know what AI can do in purchasing, planning, and stock control will spot the uses themselves. Hand them a chatbot with no guidance, though, and the use cases stay hidden.
Most Manufacturers Using AI Only Scratch the Surface
Without training or a clear purpose, AI ends up on the edges of the business. Only 7% of AI-using manufacturers use it extensively, against 15% of AI users overall. Another 14% say they have AI but aren’t using it at the moment, and most of the rest (64%) use it on a limited basis.
That fits a wider pattern. Across the UK, only 15% use it extensively, and manufacturing sits at half that rate. A tool that one person opens now and then won’t change how a factory plans, buys, or ships.
Where AI in Manufacturing Starts Paying Back
The quickest wins come from AI that already knows your data. When AI sits inside your enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, it can see the stock, orders, and suppliers your team works with every day. There’s no separate tool to justify and no data to copy across.
That’s how Copilot in Business Central works. Your team can ask in plain English which production orders are behind schedule or which stock is moving slowly. It suggests what to reorder from demand patterns, stock levels, and supplier lead times, and it drafts sales orders from customer emails.
Training still matters, but there’s far less of it to do. Each person learns what Copilot can do in the screens they already use, rather than learning a whole new app. We deliver role-based training for that reason, so buyers, planners, and finance teams each see the uses that fit their job.
If your production planning still lives in spreadsheets, start there. We’ve written about the cost of spreadsheet-based MRP and what changes when production data sits in one system.
Give Your Team AI They Know How to Use
Your competitors can download the same free tools you can. The manufacturers that pull ahead will be the ones whose people know where AI fits and how to use it. See how Business Central works for manufacturing and engineering, or speak to the team about putting Copilot to work in your business.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Many UK Manufacturers Use AI?
According to the ONS, 20% of UK manufacturers used at least one AI technology in September 2026. Across all businesses, the figure was 30%. Manufacturing adoption has hovered around one in five since September 2025.
Do UK Manufacturers Train Their Staff to Use AI?
Most don’t. Of the manufacturers that use AI, 61% have given no staff any AI training, compared with 48% of AI-using businesses overall. Only 10% have trained more than half their workforce.
What Stops Manufacturers from Adopting AI?
The most common barrier manufacturers report is difficulty identifying a use for AI, cited by 13%. Cost follows at 11%, with a lack of AI expertise at 8%. Fewer than 2% say a suitable product isn’t available.
How Much Are UK Manufacturers Spending on AI?
Not much. A third of AI-using manufacturers (33%) invested nothing in AI in the past 12 months, and 40% spent under £10,000. Six in ten got their AI through free-to-use software.
Where Should a Manufacturer Start with AI?
Start with a process that already runs through your core system, such as purchasing or stock control. AI inside an ERP like Business Central with Copilot works on live data, so the uses are easier to see. Pair it with short, role-based training so each team knows what to ask it.
Where Does This Data Come From?
The figures are from the ONS Business Insights and Conditions Survey, Wave 165, with fieldwork from 21 September to 4 October 2026. Earlier waves provide the trend since 2023. Training, investment, and extent-of-use figures relate to businesses that use AI or are not sure whether they do. Our full analysis is in our UK AI adoption statistics study.
