Intuit launches Activate AI to help close the AI literacy gap for America’s growing businesses, including the country’s 36 million small business owners

Attendees gathered at an event watching a presentation on stage

With 76% of surveyed finance leaders identifying an AI gap, Intuit unites with frontier AI leaders to empower the mid-market and small businesses fueling the U.S. economy to put AI to work.

Intuit partners with Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI, accelerating growing businesses’ AI adoption and confidence through the benefit of Intuit’s trusted financial intelligence platform and today’s leading AI tools.

Intuit-led, 30-city national educational AI tour kicks off in LA at Intuit Dome, readying local businesses ahead of LA28.

Today, Intuit announced Activate AI, a national, educational tour designed so small and mid-market business owners and finance leaders can close the AI gap, and feel empowered to integrate AI into their everyday workflows. Intuit has made the power and benefit of its financial intelligence platform more widely available to customers through partnerships with today’s leading frontier AI technologies. Now, Intuit is bringing together three of those partners, Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI, to provide attendees of the Activate AI tour with hands-on learning sessions and tailored programming that will enable them to move from AI anxiety to AI confidence, a step toward closing the AI gap for the more than 36 million small businesses across the country.

Activate AI is built on the idea that businesses can leverage AI to scale and grow when they are properly equipped to adopt this innovation. Through the Activate AI tour, Intuit is connecting businesses and finance leaders with educational experiences that provide hands-on interaction with these powerful tools, alongside expert-led learning opportunities from the companies and leaders who are building them, on the platforms they already know and trust.

Small and mid-market businesses are under increasing pressure to incorporate AI into their operations to streamline workflows and optimize for growth. Many are eager to start using AI, but this interest often doesn’t align with their level of confidence in how to properly adopt it. Data from Intuit’s 2026 AI Trust Line Report reveals that three quarters (76%) of surveyed finance leaders see a gap between how much AI could help their teams and how much they’re using it today. As the world continues to move towards an AI-first approach, enabling businesses to modernize their systems and operations with the right tools and education is essential to keeping the U.S. economy growing, as economic activity from small businesses drives more than 43% of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP).

“Our data shows that 82% of mid-market finance leaders plan to prioritize advancing their AI usage in the next year, but data privacy and security concerns are one of the main barriers keeping them from adopting it deeply,” said Wyatt Jenkins, SVP, Product, Mid-Market at Intuit. “Intuit is committed to breaking down those barriers, and we’re uniquely positioned to succeed in that mission as the provider of the trusted platform where businesses can confidently integrate AI automations into their existing workflows. Our unified financial platform, Intuit Intelligence, is built on decades of trusted permissioned data, domain expertise, and complex compliance capabilities. The Activate AI tour allows us to deliver a one-of-a-kind, educational experience designed so businesses and finance leaders can maximize the benefits of Intuit Intelligence and the advanced conversational AI tools from our strategic partners at Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI, to produce meaningful business impact.”

Kicking off today with an inaugural event at Intuit Dome, businesses will gather to learn more about the future of business in the era of AI, in a conversation with creative artist, tech founder, professor, and philanthropist, will.i.am, moderated by journalist and podcast creator, Guy Raz. Attendees will also have the opportunity to hear directly from leaders at Intuit, Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI who built the tools powering the AI experiences that tackle their biggest challenges. These conversations, paired with expert-led demos, hands-on training, and peer networking, mark the start of a 30-city tour that will travel across the U.S. through November 2027, to provide businesses with the knowledge, tools, and trust to meaningfully adopt AI.

Bridging the gap from AI discovery, to AI in action

While advancing AI adoption continues to be a top priority for small and mid-market businesses as they look to the future, many find themselves stuck in the discovery phase when it comes to applying it to their existing work. Intuit’s Future of Finance Report found that 77% of senior finance leaders surveyed were either not using AI in finance workflows or were still in the testing phase. Exploration is a good first step, but these leaders also realize that real impact won’t be delivered until they can confidently integrate AI into their operations, and trust it to provide the speed, accuracy, and results that can generate the competitive advantage that more than 3 in 4 businesses believe AI has the potential to deliver.

Activate AI offers businesses the opportunity to make this transition from discovery to implementation seamless. The initiative connects the AI tools businesses are exploring to get answers and insights, to the trusted financial intelligence platform they already rely on to get work done and streamline tasks through AI-powered automations and workflows. These automations, powered by Intuit Intelligence, are delivering. Businesses using them achieve an approximately 30% reduction in manual work, on average.

And with these experiences now extending beyond the Intuit platform, Intuit Intelligence can also take action on their behalf through integrations with Claude, Gemini, and ChatGPT. Whether customers start directly with Intuit or initiate the experience through another AI platform, the financial work is powered and executed on Intuit’s platform, with the same trusted tools and experts helping their business run with precision and accuracy.

“Small businesses make up a significant share of the American economy, but they have never had the resources of bigger companies. AI can close that gap, and Anthropic is committed to making sure its benefits reach the owners and finance leaders who run these businesses. Through our work with Intuit, they can use its financial tools directly in Claude to understand their numbers, spend less time on manual work, and focus on serving customers and growing their business,” said Lina Ochman, Head of U.S. SMB at Anthropic.

“By partnering with Intuit on Activate AI, we are proud to offer the Google AI Professional Certificate and access to AI tools at no cost, meeting local entrepreneurs in their own communities to help them save time, streamline daily operations, and focus on what they love doing. Together, we’re combining Google’s AI tools with Intuit’s trusted financial expertise and workflows to help businesses put AI into action,” said Amanda Brophy, Director, Grow with Google.

“Small and mid-sized businesses are some of the most creative, ambitious adopters of AI, and we know they’re looking for practical ways to apply it to their day-to-day work,” said Daniel Chang, Head of Finance, SMB, OpenAI. “Our goal is to help owners run and grow their business with ChatGPT so they can reach new customers, get more done and better manage their cash flow. Our partnership with Intuit brings trusted financial tools and expertise into ChatGPT, helping owners understand where they stand and plan what comes next. Activate AI brings this partnership to life through hands-on learning that helps owners and their teams put these tools to use and solve the challenges they face every day.”

Interactive learning experiences, led by the experts

Activate AI attendees will have the opportunity to explore AI-powered experiences across Claude, Gemini, and ChatGPT, including those powered by Intuit, built specifically to streamline their operations and get deeper, actionable insights on their business. This includes tools that allow them to understand their performance and real-time finances, know exactly where they stand and how they stack up against their industry peers, grow sales, get paid faster, and ultimately, improve cash flow and power growth. They’ll also learn how to put these insights into action on Intuit’s platform across QuickBooks Online and Intuit Enterprise Suite, where they can access more advanced AI automations to manage the complex, compliance heavy parts of running a business like payroll, closing books, filing taxes, and deeper cash flow scenario planning. These learning opportunities will come to life across each tour stop through the following sessions:

Activate AI 2027 nationwide tour

Following the kickoff event at Intuit Dome, Activate AI will hit the road, traveling to 30 cities across the U.S. from January through November 2027, to help even more small and mid-market businesses turn their AI use into real results. To view upcoming dates and register to attend at no cost, visit here.

This information is intended to outline our general product direction, but represents no obligation and should not be relied on in making a purchasing decision. Additional terms, conditions and fees may apply with certain features and functionality. Eligibility criteria may apply. Product offers, features, and functionality are subject to change without notice.
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