Small business owners across nine Asia-Pacific markets are seeing tangible productivity and sales benefits from artificial intelligence, although many still need guidance on its costs, risks and applications. A Meta-commissioned YouGov survey found that 84% of respondents currently use AI, with 76% reporting a positive impact on productivity and 71% pointing to improvements in revenue or sales over the past 12 months.
Despite these reported gains, 86% believe small businesses need more guidance to make effective use of AI. The research surveyed 3,983 owners across Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Taiwan, India, Thailand, Japan and Hong Kong, examining how smaller companies are using the technology to manage operations and reach customers.
AI adoption is supporting everyday business operations
Content creation, advertising and customer communications are among the most common applications of AI identified in the survey. Among owners whose businesses had used AI in the preceding 12 months, 51% reported using it to create or edit content, while 43% applied it to local advertising and marketing. Translation accounted for 38%, followed by customer support and communications at 37%.
These uses directly address two challenges identified by small business owners: limited time and resources. Among respondents reporting productivity improvements from AI, 58% said they were using the time saved to improve the quality of existing work, while 50% were directing it towards business growth and planning. Another 46% reported accomplishing more with their existing teams.
Owners also expressed confidence in AI’s ability to help smaller companies compete with larger organisations. Across the nine markets, 80% agreed that AI helps small businesses compete more effectively with larger companies, with an equal proportion believing it makes starting a business easier. A further 83% agreed that AI enables smaller companies to carry out activities that previously required significantly more money or resources. These findings describe owners’ assessments rather than independently measured outcomes.
Training costs and uncertainty remain barriers to effective use
Training costs remain a concern among small business owners seeking to make better use of AI, with 51% of survey respondents identifying cost as a barrier to training. When asked what support they would value most, business owners identified clearer information about costs and return on investment, alongside guidance on data privacy and security. Meta has advocated free training, clearer information about costs and returns, and policies supporting investment in AI and digital skills. The company has also been working with governments and industry associations on programmes intended to help smaller businesses use the technology, and intends to continue working with governments, industry partners and entrepreneurs across Asia-Pacific to improve access to AI skills and tools.
Conducted online between 6 August and 2 September 2026, the YouGov research applied quotas within each market to include businesses employing 1–9, 10–19 and 20–49 people, providing responses from companies of different sizes. The findings are not nationally representative of the small business population in each market. Meta also noted differences in reported adoption and impact across the nine markets, which may partly result from variations in how respondents interpreted questions, translations and local survey response practices.
Meta provides AI training through regional business programme
The research follows the launch of the Meta Small Business Growth Academy across Asia-Pacific earlier in 2026. Designed to help smaller companies use digital and AI-enabled tools to find customers, improve productivity and expand into overseas markets, the programme is delivered with governments, chambers of commerce and local programme partners. The academy provides training in AI-enabled advertising, Reels, WhatsApp for Business and cross-border commerce, while Meta also offers several AI-enabled business tools, including Advantage+ for creating and running advertising campaigns, ads that click to WhatsApp for customer conversations, and Meta Business Agent for automatically handling customer enquiries.
One example provided by Meta involves Husnul Khotimah, founder of Indonesian modest fashion brand Zayya, who used training from the Small Business Growth Academy to expand into Malaysia. Working with a daily advertising budget of Rp30,000, approximately US$1.68, Khotimah used Meta’s business tools to generate 50 customer enquiries. Customer response times reportedly fell from between 30 and 60 minutes to under two minutes, while she reported a return on advertising spend exceeding eight times the investment.
Describing how her understanding of AI had developed, Khotimah said, “Meta has helped me see what is possible for a small business like Zayya. I used to think AI was mainly for writing captions and creating content, but I’ve learned that it can also help me understand new markets and reach the right customers. Using tools like Advantage+, we’ve been able to reach customers beyond Indonesia with a small advertising budget, while giving me more time to grow the business and connect with more women who share the same needs that inspired Zayya in the first place.”
