A new report from JPMorgan Chase examines the use of artificial intelligence among men- and women-owned businesses, showcasing major gender and age disparities in who has adopted the technology.
The report authors examined transaction data from de-identitied Chase Business Banking deposit accounts from 2019 to 2025. Overall, male business owners consistently adopted AI at a higher rate than women, with the gap widening after 2023. In 2019, adoption rates. remained low for both groups, with roughly 2 percent of male-owned businesses using AI compared to 1.7 percent of women-owned businesses. By 2025, male-owned businesses reached 19.7 percent adoption and women-owned businesses reached 17.2 percent adoption. Thus, the gender gap in AI adoption grew from 0.3 percentange points in 2019 to 2.5 percentage points in 2025.
Among different generations, Millennial (people born between 1980 and 1996) and Gen Z (people born between 1997 and 2013) owners are the most likely to use AI; however, these age groups also have the largest gender gaps in AI adoption. Among Gen Z, 20.0 percent of male-owned businesses have adopted AI compared to just 13.9 percent of women-owned businesses. For Millennial business-owners, 23.2 percent of men and 19.8 percent of women have adopted AI. Among the Gen X (people born between 1965 and 1979) and Baby Boomer (people born between 1946 and 1964) groups, the gender gaps in AI adoption are only 0.9 percentage points and 0.5 percentage points, respectively. Notably, women owners in Gen Z are less likely to have adopted AI than both men and women owners in Gen X.
To address these persistent gender and age gaps in AI adoption, the report authors offer two key suggestions for policymakers who want to better support small businesses: implement targeted AI training programs with a particular attention to younger female entrepreneurs and promote community-based support and mentorship networks for owners to discuss AI implementation challenges with others who share similar concerns.
“Lower barriers to entry have enabled the rapid acceleration of AI adoption among small businesses. However, this democratization has not reached all business owners. Substantial gaps persist across generational cohorts and between male and female business owners,” the report authors write. “As policymakers consider how to support small business competitiveness in an economy where AI plays a growing role, addressing these persistent adoption gaps could help ensure broad-based access to the technology’s benefits.”