Generative AI intrigues small-business owners, but many aren’t sure what to do with it

The rapid rise of generative AI has mainly been examined through the lens of how major companies like Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and Apple will use it, along with how the technology will affect industries such as entertainment and healthcare. But a new report from FreshBooks sheds some light on how generative AI is expected to impact small-business owners in the near future.

FreshBooks, which makes cloud-based accounting software for small and medium-size businesses, recently polled more than 1,000 small-business owners across North America to get their thoughts on the usefulness of generative AI and how the technology may impact their operations. Here’s what they said:

Two-thirds of small-business owners plan to test generative AI technology in their business within the next year.
25% said they are already testing generative AI tools in their business. Those tools include the usual suspects: ChatGPT, Google Bard, and Microsoft Bing.
As for how the small businesses already using generative AI are implementing the technology, a majority of respondents said they were using it to generate text for use on their websites and social media accounts.
While two-thirds of business owners say they don’t worry that generative AI technologies will replace them or their employees, 60% of small-business owners polled said AI will dramatically change their business in the next five years.
The areas respondents said would most be impacted by AI include analytics, sales and marketing, and customer communications. Hiring and recruiting, and service delivery are expected to be the areas least affected.
While the majority of small-business owners aren’t convinced that AI will replace them or their employees, 44% also said that they expect to hire fewer workers in the future because of the capabilities of AI. 

One final interesting result from the study: When small-businesses owners who said they had no plans to use AI were asked why, 46% said they weren’t clear on how AI could help their business, while 32% said they weren’t sure about how to apply the technology to their business. 

This suggests that there is a wide gap between the hype surrounding AI and the knowledge about how to actually implement it in a small-business setting—and whether or not one even should. But no doubt in the years ahead, an entire cottage industry will spring up around educating small-business owners on how they could leverage generative AI at their companies.