As artificial intelligence continues to impact the way organizations operate, 25% of small businesses currently use or test generative AI tools and two-thirds plan to try them for work within the next 12 months, according to a report by FreshBooks. In addition, its survey found 44% of small business owners said they expect to hire fewer people in the future because of AI capabilities.

“Anxiety over AI has been growing lately, with workers in certain industries expressing concerns that their jobs will be replaced,” said Mara Reiff, chief data officer at FreshBooks. “In the world of small business, it appears that owners don’t feel particularly threatened and don’t believe artificial intelligence can do their jobs just as well as they can. On the other hand, their eyes are wide open to the potential of using AI as a support to help them scale.”

Most of the current generative AI adopters said they are using it to generate text, while others are applying it to create images or conduct general business research. In addition, most respondents are using AI-generated content on their business websites and social media platforms, while fewer respondents said they use generative AI content for customer support and communications.

Of those surveyed, 60% said AI would dramatically change their business within the next five years. Business analytics, sales and marketing, and customer communications will be most affected, according to the report. On the other hand, human resources and recruiting and service delivery were rated as the areas least likely to be affected.

Despite their adoption of AI, 80% of small businesses said they are concerned about privacy, ethical and intellectual property issues associated with it.

FreshBooks surveyed 1000 US and Canada-based small-business owners across various industries in May for the report.