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Governor Cook highlights AI adoption among small businesses at State of Small Business Symposium
Summary
At the State of Small Business Symposium hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Governor Cook called the Federal Reserve's Small Business Credit Survey essential for understanding small-firm finance and highlighted that nearly half of small employer firms reported using AI, with 71% of those saying productivity rose.
Governor Cook opened the State of Small Business Symposium at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, thanking the bank for hosting and attendees for their interest in small firms and entrepreneurship. "99.9 percent of businesses in the U.S. have fewer than 500 employees," she said, adding that since 1995 those firms "have accounted for 61 percent of net new job creation."
Cook emphasized the policy relevance of small firms, saying monetary policymakers' choices "matter deeply to owners and employees of small firms" and that achieving maximum employment and stable prices will help those businesses thrive. She framed understanding small and new businesses as central to understanding the U.S. economy and economic outcomes for neighborhoods and households.
A central point of her remarks was the value of the Federal Reserve's Small Business Credit Survey (SBCS). Cook called the SBCS "an essential source" of data on financing requirements, debt needs, and small firms' experiences and noted the survey's national expansion: "This year marks 10 years since the survey went national—going from a four-Bank regional effort to a Systemwide collaboration." She said the survey has expanded in size and scope and now captures near-real-time credit conditions and financing frictions that other statistics often miss.
Previewing the full 2025 survey, Cook flagged a notable finding: "nearly half of small employer firms reported using AI in some capacity, and 71 percent of these firms reported increased productivity as a result." She used that result to challenge the assumption that only large firms can deploy AI effectively and to underscore small businesses' resourcefulness in adopting innovative tools.
Cook encouraged researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to examine the SBCS data for insights into which firms access credit, how they seek it, why some are turned down, and what firms plan to do next. She thanked the Federal Reserve System staff who produce the survey and invited students and researchers to explore the survey's data in depth.
Closing her remarks, Cook reiterated that access to credit plays a key role in firms' ability to get established and grow, and she thanked the organizers for an "exciting program" scheduled for today and tomorrow, including a presentation of the full 2025 survey.
