KAREN JOY BACUDO

Finance Editor

Only 10% of small businesses provide staff with AI security training, according to MoneySuperMarket. Its survey also found that 44% of small business owners worry that using AI without proper safeguards could expose them to cyber threats.

The findings highlight a gap between interest in artificial intelligence and preparedness for the risks that come with it. The comparison site surveyed 250 UK sole traders and business owners with between one and 49 employees.

Use of AI in day-to-day business tasks remains limited among smaller companies. Just 15% of respondents said they use AI to support administrative processes, while 19% have used it to help with marketing strategy.

At the same time, more said they would like to use the technology for routine work. Some 36% want to use AI tools to automate or outsource administrative work, reporting and research, although 44% said they did not intend to use AI for those purposes.

The results suggest many smaller firms are still weighing potential efficiencies against concerns over security and readiness. One in five respondents said they would feel underprepared if their business were targeted by a cyber-attack.

Regional split

Attitudes varied sharply across the UK. Scotland showed the strongest interest in AI among the regions surveyed, with half of small business owners saying they wanted to use it to automate or outsource admin, reporting and research.

The South East followed at 48%, ahead of the South West at 43%. At the other end of the scale, Wales and Yorkshire and The Humber were the least likely to say they wanted to use AI in this way, both at 20%.

Concern over cyber risk also differed by region, although Scotland stood out for combining enthusiasm with caution. In Wales, 60% of business owners said they worried that without the right training, AI could expose their business to cyber threats. The same proportion in Scotland shared that concern.

The mix of interest and apprehension reflects a broader pattern in the survey. Businesses appear willing to consider AI for practical office tasks, but many have yet to put formal safeguards or staff training in place.

Training gap

The low level of investment in AI security training is likely to attract attention as small firms adopt widely available generative AI tools for writing, research and workflow support. These tools can speed up routine tasks and cut costs, but they can also create risks around data handling, staff misuse, and exposure to phishing and other cyber threats.

For smaller employers, the challenge is often as much about resources as awareness. Many have limited in-house IT support and may rely on informal policies when introducing new software, leaving staff without clear guidance on what information should or should not be entered into AI systems.

MoneySuperMarket based its national estimates on a UK small business population of 5.64 million. On that basis, the figures suggest more than 2.48 million small business owners are worried about cyber risks linked to unsafe AI use, while only a small minority have paid for employee training in this area.

The findings come as businesses across the economy test how AI can be used in routine operations. Among SMEs, the early focus appears to be on back-office work and marketing rather than more specialised applications, which may help explain why administration and marketing were the most commonly cited uses in the survey.

Alicia Hempsted, Business Insurance Expert at MoneySuperMarket, said: “AI can be a powerful tool for simplifying admin processes, improving marketing and saving time. The key for business owners that want to utilise it but have yet to start is making sure employees and business owners feel confident and informed about how they use it safely and effectively.”

The Chancery Lane Project has launched an open-source WordPress plugin that serves websites in a simplified format for AI systems. The UK nonprofit said the tool is intended to reduce data processing and energy use.

The plugin detects visits from known AI agents and large language model browsers, then delivers a stripped-down Markdown version of a page instead of the full HTML. This gives AI systems the main content without navigation menus, scripts, and other elements designed for human browsing.

The software is free to use and can be adapted by other organisations. TCLP developed it initially for its own library of climate-focused contract clauses and legal guidance, which it says is used in more than 110 countries.

The launch comes as organisations consider how online content is read not only by people but also by AI tools used for search, research, drafting, and analysis. Websites are generally built as rich visual pages for human users, but AI systems often have to process those same pages in full before extracting the core text.

TCLP said this creates extra computational work and higher token use, raising energy demand. Early testing of the plugin showed reductions of up to 90% in token usage, according to the organisation.

The Chancery Lane Project is best known for publishing contract clauses intended to help lawyers and businesses address climate risks and emissions through legal agreements. It says it has published almost 200 climate clauses through work involving 3,600 professionals across 113 countries.

The new tool widens that work into the design of digital information systems. TCLP said the aim is to keep legal knowledge accessible as AI becomes a more common route to professional information.

Ben Metz, executive director of The Chancery Lane Project, outlined that rationale in comments accompanying the launch. “If climate action scales through law, then ensuring that legal knowledge can travel effectively in an AI-driven world is essential. Most websites are built for human users, not AI, which means systems often process large amounts of irrelevant data, increasing cost and energy use. For TCLP, this is about maintaining access to high-quality, climate-aligned legal content at a time when the way information is accessed is fundamentally changing. This plugin addresses that by delivering a clean, machine-readable version of content, enabling more efficient retrieval for tasks such as research, drafting, and analysis.”

Environmental impact

The launch also draws attention to the growing debate over the environmental footprint of AI systems and digital infrastructure. While much of that discussion has focused on data centres and model training, software design choices that reduce unnecessary processing are also becoming part of the conversation.

TCLP said the project received support from the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, which backs work on AI and digital infrastructure. The nonprofit described the plugin as a public good and said it wanted developers, charities, and commercial teams to be able to deploy or modify it.

Felix Cohen, director of digital at The Chancery Lane Project, linked the technical change to wider environmental questions. “Improving the efficiency of digital systems is not just a technical concern. It has real environmental implications.

“We see this as an opportunity to connect legal innovation, digital infrastructure, and climate outcomes practically.”

Supporters of the project argue that small efficiency gains can become meaningful when applied across widely used publishing systems such as WordPress. The software underpins a large share of the web, making it a useful starting point for experiments in simpler machine-readable publishing.

Nick Cain, vice president of strategy and innovation at the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, pointed to the cumulative effect of AI traffic online. “Every query processed and every token consumed carries computational and energy demands that compound across the modern web. At WordPress’s scale, a 90% reduction in token load translates into a substantive gain for the climate. This work reflects our belief that responsible AI infrastructure, built openly for any organisation to deploy, should serve both the public good and the planet.”

For TCLP, the plugin also reflects a practical response to changes in how users find specialist information. “Rather than a shift into technology, this is a continuation of TCLP’s role in enabling climate action through law,” Metz said.

“It’s an extension into the systems that shape how knowledge is accessed and applied.”

AWS North Community Conference will return to the North of England following an inaugural gathering that drew more than 150 attendees.

The one-day event will take place at The Baltic in Gateshead and is being organised with support from digital product engineering company Leighton, which specialises in Amazon Web Services. It is intended to give the region’s AWS community a place to meet closer to home rather than travelling elsewhere in the UK.

The conference was created to serve the North of England’s growing technology sector. Its first edition brought together 24 speakers and six AWS Heroes, with attendees travelling from different parts of the world to discuss modernisation, migration, serverless computing and artificial intelligence.

Leighton has named several North East figures involved in shaping this year’s programme, including Steve Morland, chief technology officer; Lee Gilmore, AWS practice lead; Mark Sailes, AWS Hero and principal solutions architect; and Dan Pudwell, AWS user group leader and solutions architect.

The event will bring together AWS practitioners, technical experts, developers, engineers, SMEs, technology companies, industry figures, academics and students. That broad mix reflects an effort to position it as a regional meeting point for both established cloud specialists and newer entrants to the sector.

Regional focus

The conference’s return points to continued interest in cloud and software development outside London and other larger UK technology hubs. Regional industry events have become one way for local firms, engineers and students to build networks and share expertise without the cost and time of long-distance travel.

That local focus also reflects wider demand for AWS skills. Companies across sectors continue to hire for cloud architecture, migration and software engineering roles, while universities and training organisations expand programmes tied to cloud platforms and related disciplines such as data and AI.

Morland said feedback from the first event had shaped plans for the next edition. “It’s great to be able to announce the return of AWS North Community Conference. Last year was a hugely successful event and the feedback we received was absolutely fantastic, with a 100% satisfaction rate and more than 92% of respondents saying they plan to return this year.

“We’ve taken on board the insight we gathered from delegates to shape this year’s event and make sure we provide more of what people want to see. We’re really looking forward to sharing more information about what people can expect in the coming months.

“The next milestone will be when our call for speakers opens at the end of this month. We had a huge volume of great submissions last time around, so we’re excited to see what people have up their sleeves this year,” he said.

The organisers have also highlighted accessibility measures, including a social impact ticket allocation for underrepresented groups, not-for-profit organisations, students and those at an early stage in their careers.

Community investment

Claire Cundill, chief commercial officer at Leighton and executive sponsor for the project, said the event was also intended as an investment in the regional technology community. Her comments suggest Leighton sees the conference as part of a broader effort to strengthen links between companies, user groups and individual AWS practitioners across the North.

“The strength of the technology community in the North is one of the region’s greatest assets, and this event is our way of investing back into it.

“Last year’s conference brought together the AWS community and teams from some of the region’s leading brands to connect, learn, innovate and explore what’s possible with cloud technology. This year, we’re taking it further. We’re expanding the scale, ambition and impact of the event, and we’re hugely excited about what we can achieve together,” she said.

The reported 100% satisfaction rate at the first conference, along with the share of respondents who said they planned to return, suggests organisers believe there is enough repeat demand to grow the gathering. For a regional technology event, repeat attendance is often a key measure because it can determine whether sponsors, speakers and community groups continue to commit time and resources.

By centring the event in Gateshead and focusing on AWS users in the North of England, the organisers are seeking to build a lasting regional forum around cloud development, software design and related technical skills. The inaugural event drew six AWS Heroes alongside developers, engineers and business participants from a range of backgrounds.