The Artificial Intelligence Collaboration Centre launched the second AI Capability Census on 22 September, and the headline number is real: the number of Northern Ireland companies actively developing or deploying AI has doubled in twelve months, from 198 to 400, and the estimated economic value they generate has hit £214 million, two years ahead of the £200 million target the 2025 baseline census set for 2028. That is not spin. It is the same measurement, repeated a year apart, showing genuinely faster growth than the people who built the forecast expected.
The number worth sitting with, though, is a different one buried further down the same report: 45% of Northern Ireland businesses report they are still not using AI in any form. Both things are true at once. A fast-growing core of NI firms is pulling ahead, and just under half the business base has not started. For most owners reading this, the doubling is someone else's story. The adoption gap is theirs.
What the census actually found
Commissioned by the Artificial Intelligence Collaboration Centre and independently prepared by Perspective Economics, the census tracks three headline measures year on year. Companies actively engaged with AI rose from 198 in the 2025 baseline to 400 in 2026. Estimated AI-related employment rose 79% to 2,402 full-time equivalent roles. Estimated AI-related Gross Value Added rose from £82 million to £214 million, clearing the £200 million milestone the 2025 census had projected for 2028. Demand for AI skills is climbing too: Northern Ireland job adverts asking for an AI or machine learning skill are up 161% on a rolling 12-month basis, and the median advertised salary for those roles was around £61,000 in the first half of 2026. Firms in the census have raised roughly £158 million in equity investment since 2024, though Northern Ireland still accounts for less than 1% of UK AI equity investment by value.
Economy Minister Dr Caoimhe Archibald called the growth in businesses commercially engaged with AI "very encouraging," while David Crozier CBE, the Artificial Intelligence Collaboration Centre's director, put it more bluntly: "Northern Ireland is no longer an emerging AI economy. It is one where AI adoption, diffusion and economic impact is accelerating at pace across every postcode."
Why the growth is broader than it sounds
Sam Donaldson of Perspective Economics, the census's author, made the point that matters most for a typical NI small business: the growth "is not being driven by one type of company or one part of the market." New AI-first firms are appearing, established technology and professional services businesses are expanding existing AI teams, and, in Donaldson's words, "companies in more traditional sectors" are adding AI to products and services they already sell. That third group is the relevant one for most readers here. It is not about building an AI company. It is about a joinery firm's scheduling software getting an AI feature bolted on, or a retailer's stock system starting to forecast demand automatically, without anyone at either business hiring a single AI specialist.
Putting a number on what "AI-related" actually means per firm
The census's own totals let you work out roughly what an average AI-engaged NI firm is now worth on paper. In the 2025 baseline, £82 million of GVA was spread across 198 firms — about £414,141 per firm. In 2026, £214 million across 400 firms works out at £535,000 per firm, a rise of roughly 29% in average value per firm even as the number of firms in the count itself doubled. That is illustrative arithmetic on the census's published totals, not a per-company survey result, but it shows the growth was not simply diluted by counting more, smaller companies — the average firm in the count is also worth more than it was a year ago.
| AI Capability Census, average GVA per AI-engaged firm | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Total AI-related GVA ÷ number of firms counted | £82m ÷ 198 | £214m ÷ 400 |
| Average GVA per firm | £414,141 | £535,000 |
A second, more practical number is what an AI-skilled hire actually costs on top of the advertised salary. Take an illustrative Mid Ulster professional services firm hiring one AI or data-skilled role at the census's median advertised salary of £61,000. Employer National Insurance, at 15% on earnings above the £5,000 secondary threshold, adds £8,400 to that salary before anything else — pension contributions, equipment or software licences.
| Illustrative Mid Ulster firm, one AI-skilled hire at £61,000 | Amount |
|---|---|
| Employer NI due, 15% on earnings above the £5,000 threshold | £8,400 |
| Employment Allowance available to offset it, if unused elsewhere | up to £10,500 |
| Net additional employer NI, if the allowance is unused | £0 |
Whether that Employment Allowance actually covers it depends entirely on what the rest of the payroll has already claimed against the £10,500 annual cap — it is a per-employer allowance, not a per-hire one, so a business already close to the limit gets none of that offset on a new role.
What it means in practice for a Northern Ireland owner
If you are already using AI in some form — most likely inside accounting, CRM or operations software you already pay for — the census's message is that you are ahead of 55% of NI businesses, and the growth in job ads and salaries suggests the cost of catching up will keep rising the longer other businesses wait. If you are one of the 45% not using it at all, the realistic first step is not a £61,000 hire. It is finding out what the software you already own can already do, since AI features are increasingly bundled into tools like FreeAgent and Xero rather than sold separately. A specialist hire only makes sense once AI use has moved from one tool to something central enough to the business that someone needs to own it full time — which, on this census's own evidence, is still a minority position even among the 400 firms actively engaged.
What to do this week
If you have not touched AI in the business yet, start with what you already pay for. Ask your bookkeeper or accountant what AI features are already switched on, or available, inside your existing accounting software — our Digital Accounting service is built around exactly this kind of tooling review, checking what a subscription already covers before anyone recommends buying something new.
If you want structured, free help rather than working it out alone, the Artificial Intelligence Collaboration Centre runs fully funded AI support for SMEs, and nibusinessinfo.co.uk's own guide to AI in business is a reasonable starting point for working out where it would actually help before spending anything. If the answer turns out to be a wider systems review — more than one tool, more than one process — that is the point our Software & Systems service is built for.
What is still uncertain, and when we'll know
The census reports estimates prepared independently by Perspective Economics, not audited company accounts, so the £214 million GVA figure and the 2,402 FTE employment figure are the best current modelled estimate rather than a hard count — the methodology behind them has not been published in full alongside the headline release. The 45% adoption gap is also a snapshot; the census itself frames the next twelve months as the period that will show whether that gap closes or whether NI's AI growth stays concentrated in the same 400 firms. The full report, which the census points readers to on the Artificial Intelligence Collaboration Centre's own website, covers sector detail and skills gaps not included in nibusinessinfo's summary, and is worth reading before treating any single figure above as the whole picture.
What is confirmed now is the headline comparison itself: 198 firms and £82 million in 2025, against 400 firms and £214 million in 2026, published 22 September 2026 and consistent across every outlet that has reported it. If your own business is one of the 45% still on the sidelines, that gap is the more useful number to act on than the doubling is.