Companies using AI above all for marketing or sales

© ANP / Joris van Gennip
One in six companies have used AI in 2025, double the number from two years ago. Companies are using more text mining and speech recognition in particular, and they use artificial intelligence above all for marketing or sales. This is according to recent figures on the use of ICT by companies from Statistics Netherlands (CBS).

Both small and larger companies are using more artificial intelligence (AI technologies) than in 2023. The biggest increase is among companies with 50 to 250 employees (a rise from 20 percent in 2023 to 45 percent in 2025).

1 in 3 companies use AI for marketing and sales

Among companies that use AI-based software or systems, 35 percent do so for marketing or sales purposes. 32 percent use AI for business administration or management tasks (such as risk assessment, selecting job applicants, basic translations or planning) and 25 percent for research and development or innovation. Only 4 percent of companies use AI for logistics purposes.

Almost half of companies active in the trade sector and around 40 percent in information and communication (such as IT, publishing and telecommunications), renting and leasing of tangible goods and other business support activities use AI for marketing or sales. Around half of financial services companies use AI for business administration or management tasks.

Use of text mining and speech recognition becoming more popular

Companies use text mining (analysis of written text: 12 percent of companies) and natural language generation (generating written or spoken text: 8 percent) the most frequently. The use of text mining has increased from 4 percent in 2023 to 12 percent in 2025. The use of speech recognition has also tripled. Companies are also making more use of machine learning and natural language generation.

More than half of companies in information and communication use AI

Companies in the information and communication sector are the most likely to use one or more AI technologies, at 54 percent. In 2023, the share in this sector was 28 percent. Companies in specialised business services (such as accounting, advertising, market research and industrial design) and financial services also use AI relatively frequently. The accommodation and food services, transportation and storage, and construction sectors use AI the least often (6 to 7 percent).

Lack of experience main reason for not using AI

Three-quarters of companies do not use AI technology and have not considered doing so. Companies that have considered it but are not yet doing so cite lack of experience as the main reason for this (73 percent). Privacy and lack of clarity around the legal situation, such as legal liability, also play a role: 49 percent of companies cite privacy as a reason for not using AI technology, while 42 percent mention legal consequences. A smaller proportion (15 percent) of companies say they do not find AI to be useful for them.

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