Brazil AI Adoption Statistics 2026: People and Business Use
Brazil AI adoption statistics 2026 at a glance
Brazil AI adoption statistics 2026 distinguish internet users from employers. Cetic.br’s TIC Domicílios 2025 study found that 32% of internet users used generative AI tools. Its TIC Empresas 2025 study found that 17% of businesses in the survey’s target population used some form of AI, up from 13% in 2024. The first is about people and generative tools. The second includes a broader range of AI and concerns companies in the industries and size groups covered by the survey.
The difference by company size is striking. AI use among large companies reached 50%, while 15% of small companies reported using it. If your question concerns selling software to a small Brazilian business, use the small-business figure and the study’s definition of small. If you are deciding how much explanation a consumer product needs, look at the household survey and the group your product serves.
How many people in Brazil use generative AI?
TIC Domicílios 2025 includes a new measure of generative AI use. It gives 32% among internet users. Use that denominator when reporting the statistic. It would be misleading to write that 32% of all Brazilian residents used generative AI, because people who do not use the internet are outside that result. The published overview also shows large differences by age and education.
The age results put the national internet-user average into context. Among internet users aged 16–24, 55% reported using generative AI. For ages 35–44 the figure was 30%, and for users aged 60 and over it was 6%. These are shares within each age group, not the composition of the entire generative AI user base. The survey’s age bands are relevant when citing any of the three numbers.
Age differences should inform support and usability testing, rather than assumptions about individuals. If you build an AI feature for a service with older customers, give people clear instructions, a way to review an answer and a reliable route to a person. Test the feature with the actual audience. The survey can tell you why that testing might matter, but it does not identify which individuals need help.
How many Brazilian companies use AI?
Cetic.br’s 2025 ICT Enterprises survey reported that 17% of covered companies used some kind of AI, compared with 13% in both 2023 and 2024. The 2025 value is four percentage points above the previous year. That increase comes from the same series, making it more informative than comparing the 17% with an unrelated survey of executives or technology-sector firms.
The results by size were 15% for small companies, 32% for medium companies and 50% for large companies. Small companies, defined in the release as employing 10 to 49 people, account for 87% of the survey’s target population. That helps explain why the overall result sits much closer to the small-company figure than to the large-company figure. An unweighted average of the three rates would overstate AI use across the businesses covered.
The size data also show different starting points. Large firms rose from 38% in 2024 to 50% in 2025. Small firms rose from 10% to 15%. Both groups increased their adoption, yet the change was 12 percentage points in the first group and five in the second. A slide that shows only the national result conceals the different market conditions faced by firms of different sizes.
What the sector results can tell a UK reader
Cetic.br reports 49% AI use in information and communication in 2025 and 10% in accommodation and food services. Those figures can help you decide which parts of an industry to investigate. They are also a reminder to avoid generalising from a well-publicised software company to the entire economy.
Consider a UK supplier looking at Brazilian businesses. In a conversation with a large technology partner, the useful follow-up might be which AI tasks have already been integrated. With a small restaurant, it might be whether existing booking or inventory software offers a practical tool at all. Ask about the workflow instead of inferring maturity from company size or sector alone. The figures identify broad differences and do not predict what a specific customer does.
For the same reason, a business saying it uses AI may be using a feature for one purpose. The number of departments or staff using it, the frequency and whether it saves time are separate results. The ICT Enterprises survey’s adoption rate is a useful starting point for those questions, and a poor substitute for the answers.
Can we estimate workplace use from these sources?
The 32% public-use estimate is about people who use the internet. Its headline does not isolate a nationwide rate of generative AI use at work. The 17% is based on a survey of businesses and cannot be converted into a percentage of employees using AI. One large company can represent a single business response while employing many people, so job-level and firm-level weights differ.
For work-related measures, look for a question addressed to employed people that gives the job or reference period. If a study reports results by occupation, check whether it includes informal work and self-employment before applying the numbers to Brazil’s wider labour market. Industry coverage and the minimum size threshold also matter if you combine multiple business surveys. Record the points you cannot verify instead of inserting an estimated national figure.
Compare Brazil without creating a misleading ranking
Use the international country hub to see which measures are available elsewhere, including the France statistics guide. France Num’s figures cover very small businesses and SMEs under the French survey’s definition. Cetic.br’s survey has its own size and sector scope. A reader needs both definitions before drawing a conclusion. The What Is ChatGPT? homepage links to related AI research guides.
For a report, a strong sentence is: “In 2025, 32% of Brazilian internet users used generative AI tools, according to TIC Domicílios.” For business use, cite TIC Empresas and write: “17% of companies covered by the 2025 survey used some form of AI.” In a chart, place “internet users” or “covered companies” beside the figure rather than leaving the distinction in a footnote.
What education and access add to the picture
The household survey gives another perspective on who reports using generative AI. It puts use at 59% among internet users in the higher-education group and 17% in the elementary-education group. The percentages describe those groups within the internet-user sample. A difference between groups does not reveal its cause. It could be related to differences in the tasks people face, paid access, device use, training or other characteristics that the simple comparison cannot separate.
That is particularly relevant if you are evaluating a learning tool. A person who has never typed a prompt on a desktop might use a phone-based assistant comfortably. Another might know how to ask questions and still want help checking a result. When recruiting participants for a test, include a range of ages, education levels and devices. Compare performance on a real task rather than using prior exposure as a proxy for ability.
To make a chart easier to read, show the 32% national internet-user result as a reference line and place the age or education groups beneath it. State that the group figures are within-group shares. If one group improves faster in later survey rounds, check whether its population or education definition changed before interpreting the difference.
A closer look at the business growth figures
The 2025 enterprise results can be useful even when you are interested in only one sector. In information and communication, the study shows 38% using AI in 2024 and 49% in 2025. In accommodation and food services it gives 9% and 10%. Both are changes in the covered businesses within those sectors. Showing the earlier figures makes clear how much of the difference was already there before the latest survey.
If you manage a team planning an AI trial, start with a process that staff can check against an existing record. A retailer might compare extracted product details with a supplier spreadsheet; a service team might compare a drafted response with its own help guidance. Record both the time saved and the mistakes that still require correction. Industry averages can indicate whether a market is moving, but a pilot needs results tied to the process you want to improve.
Frequently asked questions
Does 32% mean the share of the whole Brazilian population?
It is a share of internet users in TIC Domicílios 2025. The headline should keep that group in the label.
Does the 17% business figure refer only to generative AI?
It comes from the enterprise survey’s broader AI-use measure. Cite it as AI use unless you are using a separate result for a particular technology.
Why is large-company adoption much higher than the overall rate?
The surveyed population includes many small businesses, whose adoption rate is lower. The overall result reflects the composition of that population.
Can the public and business percentages be added?
They come from different surveys and refer to different units. A person and a company are not parts of the same total.
