Inefficient AI use could soon cost UK businesses over £6 billion
9 April 2026 
UK businesses could be losing billions in unrealised productivity gains and wasted operational spend due to inefficient and unstructured use of artificial intelligence, according to Crispin Read, Founder of The Coders Guild.
Despite a surge in interest, new analysis suggests that poor strategy, lack of training, and widespread “shadow AI” usage are limiting the technology’s impact – and in some cases actively harming businesses.
Recent data shows that 33% of UK employers express interest in AI training yet only 11% have delivered any form of AI training in the past 12 months. Among SMEs, the figure drops even further, with fewer than 12% investing in structured AI training.
This means roughly two-thirds of interested businesses are failing to take action, creating what experts are calling a “curiosity-to-commitment gap.”
At the same time, demand signals are rising sharply. Searches for “AI business automation” have increased by up to 600% year-on-year, while searches for “AI training for business” and “AI courses for managers” continue to climb. Despite this, formal training uptake remains largely unchanged.
Yet Crispin Read warns that the real issue isn’t lack of adoption – but misuse. He says:
“Without clear strategy or training, many organisations are relying on free, off-the-shelf AI tools with little oversight or integration into business processes. As a result, teams are spending increasing amounts of time validating unreliable outputs, often duplicating work across departments and making decisions based on AI-generated responses that haven’t been properly scrutinised.”
At the same time, businesses are exposing themselves to unnecessary data security and compliance risks, while missing significant opportunities to automate routine work and improve efficiency – undermining the very benefits AI is supposed to deliver.
Based on conservative modelling, if just 25% of the UK’s 5.5 million businesses are using AI inefficiently, and each loses an average of £5,000-£10,000 annually.
The total cost to the UK economy could exceed £6.8 billion to £13.7 billion per year.
This figure does not include longer-term losses such as reduced competitiveness and slower innovation.
Research also suggests early adopters of well-implemented AI could achieve a 30-40% productivity advantage by 2028.
However, without structured capability building:
- 60% of firms report employees lack adequate AI training
- Only 34% of leadership teams feel confident identifying AI opportunities
- Fewer than 30% of small businesses feel confident implementing AI
This signals a critical issue: the barrier is not interest, but capability – especially at leadership level.
One of the most pressing risks is the rapid growth of informal AI usage across organisations.
Crispin Read comments: “The shadow AI finding is the one I’d pay most attention to. Employees already use AI tools informally, without any training framework or policy behind it. That’s not a future risk – it’s already happening in most organisations. And businesses often don’t realise until something goes wrong with a client’s data, or a decision gets made on the back of an output nobody’s thought to question. That’s a governance gap more than a technology gap, and it’s one structured training can actually close.”
A key finding is that executive confidence – not employee appetite – is holding back progress.
“Only a third of senior leadership teams feel confident identifying AI opportunities – that’s the number that explains all the others. You can’t commission the right training if you don’t understand the problem. You can’t ask the right questions of your suppliers, or your tech team, or the vendors trying to sell you tools. AI literacy at leadership level isn’t a nice-to-have – it’s what determines whether anything else gets done.”
Many businesses are delaying investment due to unclear returns – but may already be incurring hidden losses.
“Most businesses that tell me they can’t justify the investment haven’t tried to measure what they’re currently losing. The waste is usually visible pretty quickly – manual processes that exist out of habit, hours spent on tasks that a well-configured tool could handle in minutes, decisions made without data that’s sitting right there. You can’t see the bottom line benefit until you start looking for it, and that’s what good AI training actually teaches you to do.”
The UK risks a two-speed economy, where AI-enabled firms significantly outperform the rest.
To help UK SMEs approach AI correctly, The Coders Guild has partnered with Skills England to introduce a new AI and automation apprenticeship aimed at addressing the UK’s growing digital skills shortage, which is limiting opportunities for millions of workers and businesses. Crucially, the programme is designed not only as a route for new talent, but as a practical way for businesses to upskill existing employees and build in-house AI capability.
The programme is a Level 4 AI and automation practitioner apprenticeship running for 18 months, with apprentices learning practical AI skills relevant across industries. The programme can be used both to bring in new talent and to upskill current staff, enabling organisations to embed AI capability within existing teams rather than relying solely on external hiring.
The Coders Guild and Skills England co-designed the curriculum with employers to ensure it equips apprentices with the abilities businesses actually need.
Apprentices gain knowledge on how to integrate AI and automation into business processes to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance performance. The programme is particularly suited to employees already embedded in operations, where they can apply AI learning directly to real business challenges and deliver measurable impact.
The programme also covers ethical AI use, data protection, and compliance, helping businesses implement AI responsibly.
Crispin Read concludes:
“The numbers here don’t surprise me – they reflect almost every conversation I have with business leaders right now. People know they need to do something about AI. They’re searching for it, talking about it, worrying about it. The bit that’s missing is a practical first step that fits how their business actually works. For a lot of companies, that isn’t just hiring someone new – it’s giving the people who already understand the business the skills to improve it using AI.”
With new modular training pathways emerging, there is a significant opportunity for UK businesses to move from experimentation to structured, ROI-driven AI adoption – before the cost of inaction grows even higher.
To find out more, visit: https://thecodersguild.org.uk/subject-area/ai-automation/