Small business owners have watched large companies fumble – and sometimes succeed – with AI, and then use what works
One thing I’ve learned about corporate America is that what it succeeds at ultimately trickles down to benefit small businesses. Bleeding-edge technologies such as the internet, mobile transactions and the cloud were first perfected by large organizations – government and corporations – and now they’re available to the masses at a much lower cost and with better reliability.
The good news is that it’s also the same for what they fail at.
This is the lesson so far with artificial intelligence. Thanks to the billions invested – and in many cases squandered – by big brands, SMBs (small and mid-sized businesses) have learned what works, what doesn’t, where to spend and where to abstain. Small businesses should be grateful. We’re getting the answers without paying for all the mistakes.
What works: AI for software development, customer service, security and voice. Big technology companies are already using AI to write, review and test code, allowing smaller development teams to accomplish more. Other firms have leaned in to AI to help with a variety of customer service processes with some success. IT departments are relying heavily on AI-enabled security platforms to detect and remedy unusual behavior, phishing attacks, and other vulnerabilities. Big brands are rolling out more AI-powered voice systems that answer incoming calls and perform rudimentary actions.
Small businesses are watching. And now doing.
A countless number of the developers laid off by big tech are using AI tools to replicate themselves and provide services for smaller companies on a larger scale, and we’re hiring them.
Big companies have also begun to discover the astronomical computing costs that can result when employees and AI agents consume enormous numbers of tokens. Oh yes, we’ve seen that too. Small businesses like mine have watched large companies throw away billons on large-scale projects with little to show for it. We can’t afford to do the same.
But we’re not scared away. Instead, we’re picking low-hanging fruit.
Big companies have taught smaller businesses how not to advertise their AI investments.
For months, on earnings calls and investor meetings, big company CEOs have gushed over the cost savings and headcount reductions they expect to realize with AI, and this resulted mostly in a backlash from their employees and the general public. SMBs – short of talent and long on needs – have watched and learned to do the opposite, using AI to increase productivity without lowering payroll. As a result, we have become more appealing to workers who are disgusted by the absence of loyalty and terrified over the lack of job protection at their corporate employers.
We have watched corporations implement mass layoffs while using AI as their cover for their mismanagement and over-hiring, only to hire those same employees back. AI is an easy scapegoat. At my company, we’re using AI to increase productivity, not to announce payroll reductions.
Thanks to larger corporations, which have struggled with the reliability and accuracy of agentic AI, SMBs have learned not to trust those agents that are supposed to be doing everything for them … yet. We’re not replacing our accounting, marketing and customer service departments anytime soon. However, we’re using AI more to help analyze our businesses, make recommendations and suggest strategies. We’ll let the big companies beta-test all those agents. We’re patient. And we don’t trust anyone, particularly bots.
Most important, big corporations have taught small business owners like me to trust our guts and have faith in our common sense. All of the predictions made since ChatGPT was first introduced – mass layoffs, universal income, AGI, robots doing laundry, new worlds in the metaverse, self-driving cars – haven’t happened yet. Even OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, recently admitted that their timelines for AI adoption were “too ambitious”. He’s right.
Of course there will be many changes to the way we do business in the future thanks to the progress of artificial intelligence. I’m sure there will be all sorts of tools to increase our productivity and profitability. But you know what? I’ll let the big corporations figure all that out on their dime.
- AI (artificial intelligence)
- US small business
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