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Are you planning to use AI rather than hire in 2026?

ended 28. December 2025

Are you planning to embed AI into any areas of your business in 2026 as opposed to hiring an additional member of staff for a specific role? If so, what are your reasons? Is it the increased tax hit of hiring staff (Employers' NI in particular), the Employment Rights Act, or due to the fact you think AI can give you what you need for a fraction of the cost (or a mixture of all three or for other reasons)? If you're an AI expert, are you seeing more businesses turn to AI over humans and, if so, what are the potential ramifications of this? Is it short-sighted or fully understsndable in the current economic climate? Is the no-growth economic climate we're in a net-negative for the correct use of AI and where could this lead us?

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Kundan Bhaduri
Entrepreneur, Investor and Landlord at The Kushman Group
When you factor in the employer national insurance hike, the Employment Rights Act's tribunal risks, and baseline salaries, hiring a junior analyst now costs upwards of £35,000 annually before they've written their first report. Meanwhile, enterprise AI tools handle data analysis, content creation, and customer service for a fraction of that cost with zero tribunal risk and no sick days.

What concerns me isn't that AI is getting better. It's that we're using it as a sticking plaster for government policy failures instead of genuine productivity improvements.