How South Carolina businesses are using AI (September 2026 state post)
How many South Carolina businesses are actually using AI? The state published a number on September 14.
On September 14, 2026, the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce published “How Are Businesses in South Carolina Using AI?” Lainey Stalnaker wrote it. The post uses the Census Bureau’s Business Trends and Outlook Survey, conducted between November 2025 and February 2026. The page is https://dew.sc.gov/labor-market-information-blog/2026-09/how-are-businesses-south-carolina-using-ai
Who is using it
In South Carolina, 17.2% of survey respondents said they had used AI in the last two weeks. The same post puts the U.S. figure at 17.9%. A total of 73.4% of South Carolina businesses said they had not used AI. 9.4% answered “Do not know.”
The post says the survey reflects AI use the employer has authorized. It does not show a worker who skips a tool the firm told them to use, or one who opens a tool the employer never approved.
Nationally, the post says the sectors most likely to have used AI in the last two weeks were information (37.6%), professional, scientific, and technical services (34.2%), educational services (30.7%), finance and insurance (30.4%), and real estate and rental and leasing (23.5%). In that same section, the post names the sectors least likely to use AI as agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting (5.1%), transportation and warehousing (7.6%), and mining (7.7%).
What they use it for
Sales and marketing were the most common functions. About 13.6% of all South Carolina businesses used some form of AI for sales and marketing. 12.5% used it for strategy and business development. 9.9% used it for public relations and communications.
19.7% of businesses in South Carolina used generative AI, such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, or Claude. Among those businesses, 86.5% used it to write and edit documents, emails, and other communications. About 47.9% used it to search for information or technical help. 42.5% used it to analyze, translate, or summarize documents.
Jobs
Among businesses that reported using AI, 96.3% said AI had no effect on total employment. 14.8% of AI-using businesses said that, in the last six months, AI had performed operations previously done by existing software. In comparison, 8.3% said it had performed a task done by an employee. Within that group, 85.3% said only a small number of tasks previously done by employees were instead performed by AI.
On later adoption, the post says slightly more businesses reported future plans to use AI than current use: 23.2% versus 17.2%. Most still had no plans. Of the businesses surveyed, 57.1% said they did not plan to use AI for any business functions in the next six months. Asked why, more than half said AI was not applicable to their business. 24.4% of respondents pointed to a lack of knowledge on the capabilities of AI. 21.0% of respondents had concerns about privacy.
What that looks like in Charleston
Those figures are statewide. The directory is the local record. Each example below is already listed there, with its public source.
Katsubō Chicken & Ramen in Park Circle answers takeout, reservation, hours, and hiring calls with an AI phone attendant. The owners now sell that tool to other restaurants as Noodl.
SoundHound reports that MUSC Health handles 2.2 million interactions a year by voice and chat. That number is the vendor’s, not an independent count.
The Town of Mount Pleasant uses Sawyer, built by the Charleston company Citibot, for resident questions on the web, by text, and by phone. The directory lists 70+ languages on web and text. Dorchester County Water & Sewer uses Mani, also from Citibot, for water and sewer customers. The directory lists 75 languages for that assistant.
Charleston Hospitality Group uses Claude for marketing, guest communications, operations, training, and business intelligence. That is the use case in the directory.
Writing and editing is the use the state post says generative AI gets most. Case Status, listed at Daniel Island / North Charleston, drafts suggested replies to client messages. The announcement says a staff member reviews each reply before it is sent.
Two pricing examples are in the directory, and both results come from the vendor. The Dewberry Charleston entry cites an IDeaS success story: year-over-year gains in ADR, RevPAR, and occupancy. PriceLabs reports that one Dunes Properties property went from $18,000 to $20,000. The directory marks that result vendor-reported.
The Tuesday email
The source link for every example above is on its directory page. I send three local examples, one prompt, and the week’s events every Tuesday. The signup is under this note. It is free.
Collin
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