Petko, StanislavПетько, Станіслав МихайловичVdovichen, AnatoliiVdovichena, OlhaKoroliuk, YuriiLosheniuk, Iryna2026-03-192026-03-192026-03AI as a driver of digital platform development in the Ukrainian economy: focus on small and medium-sized [Electronic resource] / Stanislav Petko, Anatolii Vdovichen, Olha Vdovichena [et al.] // Periodicals of Engineering and Natural Sciences. – Electronic text data. – 2026. – Vol. 14, № 1, March. – P. 201–212. – Mode of access: https://pen.ius.edu.ba/index.php/pen/article/view/1544/1321. – Title from screen.2303-4521https://ir.kneu.edu.ua/handle/2010/54030This work analyzes the evolution of the digital platform using artificial intelligence in the Ukrainian economy. Particular emphasis is placed on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). For this purpose, a mixed-method approach was adopted. It combined quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative prospect was effectuated using a structured survey targeting SME owners, co-founders, operations managers, and heads of marketing, logistics, customer support, and finance. The qualitative part concerned semi-structured interviews with SME decision-makers. The results demonstrated that while artificial intelligence (AI) has significantly improved operational efficiency and digitalization in Ukrainian SMEs, its effectiveness is constrained by financial, technical, and regulatory obstacles. Nonetheless, context-specific drivers of digitalization enable gradual, pragmatic adoption, with measurable benefits emerging even under cautious and uneven integration. The study concludes that AI plays a pragmatic yet limited role in driving digital transformation among Ukrainian SMEs.enArtificial IntelligenceDigital PlatformsUkrainian SMEsBusiness TransformationArticlehttps://doi.org/10.21533/pen.v14.i1.1544