AI for small business: How to get started

Small business owners can do more with less by learning how to use artificial intelligence (AI) for small business. Generative AI (GenAI) is a type of AI that process and generates text, images, video, audio models, and information. Small business owners can transform lengthy research, operations, and other tasks from days-long efforts to mere minutes.

There are also GenAI assistants that automate tasks—summarizing emails, transcribing meetings, and can help convert Word documents into PowerPoints, and much more. If it’s data-driven and repetitive, there’s likely an AI-based solution.

In addition, Large Language Models (LLMs), are GenAI tools that create human-like text and images. Its capabilities are based on vast amounts of training data. Examples of LLMs include ChatGPT, chatbots, and language translation apps—all of which can be very helpful for small businesses.

It’s important to understand the benefits of AI for small businesses, how to implement it effectively, and where the technology is heading so you can maximize its advantages.

Caring for your customers is a top priority, but time may be the most valuable commodity for your small business. Your commitment to service has you multitasking day in and day out, but how many roles can you handle at once?

Any one responsibility can be a full-time job, but as every small business owner knows, having the budget to hire a full workforce isn’t always possible. AI and LLMs can reduce some of this pressure by saving time on projects like research, data analysis, and other tedious tasks.

In a 2024 study, Thomson Reuters reported that AI can save professionals “four hours a week in the next year and up to 12 hours per week within the next five years.”¹ This saved time allows small businesses to perform research and operations with greater reach and much faster than they could have once imagined.

These tasks include using AI to:

AI can complete these tasks quickly and at a low cost. This gives smaller firms with lower cash cushions a leg up against more established companies, allowing them to compete on a larger scale.

Many cloud-based software applications that small business owners use now include AI and LLMs to improve usability and efficiency. These applications then use AI-based analysis to learn more rapidly, improve the customer experience, and expand their product offerings to create new streams of revenue.

AI is already likely a part of your enterprise in one way or another, but there are other benefits that a small business can intentionally gain from using AI.

There are specific artificial intelligence small business opportunities available. Small business owners who lean into learning, exploring, and integrating AI solutions that fit their business may be able to outpace competition to meet customer needs. This may be through:

Improved efficiency

Generative AI tools are powerful for brainstorming many ideas over a short period of time. Through the skillful use of prompts—the instructions you provide—they can quickly help you explore the value of each idea so you can narrow down what the ideal path may be.

How do these ideas measure up to your competitors? Gen AI can use publicly available data to help you quickly determine if your ideas are unique, analyze your opportunities for them, and even suggest how you can position yourself to create a unique offer.

Increased productivity

AI tools can help small businesses do more in less time by automating repetitive tasks. For example, sales teams can save up to two hours a day on tasks like:

Processing and analyzing data alone are priceless benefits of AI for small businesses. You can gather insights in a fraction of the time it would normally take. In addition, AI tools can help you discover and explore aspects of your data that you may not already consider.

Marketing automation with AI

Marketing drives business growth, but it also takes valuable time, energy, and effort. Using AI, you can automate a variety of marketing tasks that could otherwise take hours, like:

As you learn and build confidence in the abilities of AI automation, as well as understand where it may not fit for the workflows in your organization, you can plan for it more strategically. The result can be streamlined productivity, freeing up time for your teams to focus on other work.

Added value of AI for small businesses

AI can assist in many straightforward tasks, such as data entry, automated email responses, and more. In addition, a significant added value is that GenAI tools become more useful as they answer your prompts, meaning that over time you may spend less time refining replies and feedback to your queries.

This can help you to have more flexibility in how you dedicate your employee planning.

All this goes to say that GenAI can save you time, energy, and stress. Adopting it thoughtfully is a path toward a more profitable business that actively saves time and money. However, adopting AI is not a singular process. It is an ever-evolving landscape that can save your small business from unnecessary headaches.

Smart small business owners take the time to learn about AI, how to use it, and how it can impact their work. And those that truly embrace AI for small businesses and begin to actively use it into day-to-day operations open a world of possibilities in changing and growing their business. 

To make the most out of AI for small businesses, best practices to consider are:

Define specific use cases

Identify which parts of your business would benefit from AI. Areas such as client communication, billing, bookkeeping, and similar repetitive tasks are prime candidates for AI adoption and task automation. Though AI may not benefit every area of your business model, setting specific use cases can narrow your focus to keep your AI usage efficient and effective.

Address potential challenges of AI

AI can revolutionize your business, but there are a few things to be mindful of. While it can save you a great deal of time, in many cases it doesn’t replace the work but only changes how we work. You still need humans to vet and, and often, humanize the output.

For example, digital content may look and sound inauthentic. AI coding tools may introduce bugs and other errors. And for all AI-generated out, especially content that comes from public resources, you risk plagiarizing content, violating intellectual property standards and risking audience trust.

A few other challenges you may face when implementing AI in your company include:

Hallucinations and outdated sources – As mentioned, AI has the potential to produce inaccurate, unfounded information, called hallucinations. In addition, some LLMs may not have the most up-to-date information due to their training data. It’s critical to fact-check any responses it gives you.

Privacy concerns – When you use public-facing AI tools, your data can become part of the collective data pool. And while network security helps to protect your business and your data, AI tools, like other software you may use, can still be an entry point for cyberattacks into your business. A layered defense strategy gives you protections for the potential entry points.

You must also consider your budget, training, and change management for AI adoption. There’s a learning curve in how you can use AI to learn and find efficiencies that make sense for your business. Make sure you include education as a core part of incorporating AI into your business operations.

With thoughtful adoption, you benefit from AI now, but you’re building a foundation for future AI innovation.

A personalized experience is a growing demand for most customers. The future of AI, specifically for the customer experience, will include more personalization. Your small business can capitalize on this through using AI chatbots for customer support, advice, and solutions via text.

In some industries, such as eCommerce and retail, AI can help create personalized shopping experiences. Customers can visualize an object in their room or try on clothes virtually, which also can deliver detailed data insights to help you develop products and improve the customer experience.

The exciting future of AI is both growing and unknown. When planning how you may use AI in your business, think beyond what’s available today. Choose innovative providers and applications that not only deliver reliable solutions today but are prepared for the fast-growing evolution in the future of AI.

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¹ “AI set to save professionals 12 hours per week by 2029,” Thomson Reuters, Accessed June 20, 2025, https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en/press-releases/2024/july/ai-set-to-save-professionals-12-hours-per-week-by-2029.
² “Smarter Selling with AI,” HubSpot, March 2023, https://www.hubspot.com/hubfs/Smarter%20Selling%20with%20AI%20Report/AI-Smarter-Selling-V4.pdf.
³ Speeds based on wired connection. Actual speeds may vary. For 5 GIG, single device wired speed maximum 4.7Gbps.  For more info, go to www.att.com/speed101. 
⁴ AT&T 5G requires compatible plan and device. Coverage not available everywhere. Learn more at att.com/5Gnetwork.