By Paige Backman, Emily Chow and Emily Naveenan ( April 30, 2026, 10:46 AM EDT) -- Artificial intelligence (AI) and associated algorithms increasingly underpin routine business functions and often form part of a company’s product or service offering. In June 2025, Microsoft found that 71 per cent of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) surveyed were actively using AI or generative AI for core operations; among digital-native firms, the rate reached 90 per cent. Behind the scenes, AI models are responsible for making material business decisions, running equipment and offering services to third parties — including health care decisions, dynamic pricing, forecasting, supply chain optimization, customer chats and routing, applicant screening, identity validation, fraud detection and marketing campaigns....