Survey Finds Small Business Owners Use AI for Creative Tasks

U.S. small business owners found that entrepreneurs typically manage five roles at once. The most common roles include customer service representative at 54 percent, marketer at 44 percent, bookkeeper at 43 percent, social media manager at 41 percent, and creative director at 35 percent.

The average owner works more than 200 extra hours each year. More than half said they spend more time on creative and marketing tasks than expected when starting their business. Fifty-six percent reported that these tasks pull them away from core operations at least once a week.

The survey identified design, branding, social media, and marketing as the tasks owners most want to hand off. Sixty-nine percent said they would prefer to outsource creative work in some form. Cost was cited by 41 percent as a barrier, while 37 percent wanted to stay involved in the process.

Owners most commonly use AI for research at 56 percent and for design and visual content creation at 46 percent. Thirty percent ranked design and visual content creation as the area where AI provides the most value. Among those who use AI, nearly three-quarters said the tools increased their confidence in tasks outside their expertise.

"I opened Treeline Coffee because I love coffee — but running a business means wearing a lot of hats. Managing branding, marketing and everything else made it hard to focus on what matters most," said Natalie Van Dusen, founder of Treeline Coffee and Adobe Express community member.

" "Small business owners have always had to do it all — but for the first time, they don't have to do it alone," said Parimal Deshpande, Global Head of Product Marketing, Adobe Express. "We're seeing that AI isn't replacing founders, entrepreneurs and small businesses' voice or vision; it's removing the friction that gets in the way of it.