Small businesses in the U.S. are making progress in catching up with implementing artificial intelligence to help their operations, even though nearly half are unsure of how to get started, according to new research. A recent study done by Morning Consult for Visa that surveyed small business decision-makers found that just 52% of U.S. small businesses have adopted AI in their operations, while about half of non-adopters are planning to follow suit within the next two years.
For small businesses that aren't sure how to get started using AI in their business, Press suggested they should look to try it out in "lower risk areas, even using chat, to see where that can help." As an example, she said a small business could leverage AI to do things like drafting a press release, given that "not many small businesses have a writer or a comms and PR department.
The study found that of small businesses that haven't adopted AI, 49% of respondents said that marketing was the most interesting business area for using AI – well above other use cases like business development, accounting or customer service. As a small business gets more comfortable using AI in lower risk capacities, Press said they can then "move along that spectrum" to try it in different use cases.
Look for key partners and vendors in that small business' industry," Press said. "There are vendors that specialize in working with a variety of industries, and those vendors, who are often larger organizations like Visa, are already looking to incorporate AI and going to those vendors to say, +'What are you doing with AI? How does that impact my business? How can it help?'" "I think the message is: start small.