NEWSLETTER: How does it all work and what does it mean for you and your business?
Who are the main players in A.I.? How are other tech companies building off of them? And what does it all mean for you as a small business owner? Find out by reading this week's newsletter.
🎓 A.I. 101 for small business owners:
How does it all work?
When it comes to using A.I., it’s good to have an understanding of how it all works. It basically starts with the big players who are developing the A.I. foundations and then other tech companies build their products using those foundations.
Who are the big players?
Here are some of the bigger names getting a lot of media buzz these days:
Anthropic: Claude
Google: Bard
OpenAI: ChatGPT / GPT4
Meta: LLaMa
Microsoft: Bing
How are they building the A.I. foundation?
These companies feed massive amounts of data into their products and train them to provide human-like responses based on that data.
For the most part, the general public does have access to these big players however some are currently only available in certain countries (for example, I’m Canadian and I currently don’t have access to Claude or Bard) or they seem to be aimed at a higher-level tech user.
The main players I’ve been using on a regular basis are ChatGPT/GPT4 and Bing and I’ve found them to be pretty user-friendly.
So small business owners can use the main players directly, or they can also use products that are being built on top of one of the main players’ products.
How are tech companies using these A.I. foundations?
In addition to the main players who have developed the A.I. foundations, there are now thousands of tech companies building products using those foundations. They take advantage of the existing technology developed by the main players and then develop their own products on top of it, often making modifications to help the results be better suited to their target market.
Here is a quote from Wayne Hu, a partner at venture capital firm SignalFire, explaining how these A.I. foundations have affected tech product development:
If you’ve read any of my test drives in previous newsletters and if you read my test drive later in this newsletter, those were all done using tech products that have been developed on top of one of the main players.
What does this mean for small businesses?
In the simplest of terms, it means:
The possibilities are endless for how you can be using A.I.
There are the main players who have built (and are continuing to modify) the A.I. foundations, which small business owners can access directly
There are also a TON of other A.I. products available that have been built on top of those foundations, many of which can be used by small business owners
What excites me the most right now when it comes to using A.I. for business is learning how to create the most effective prompts when using the main A.I. foundations (I’ll have an A.I. 101 on prompts in an upcoming newsletter) and also exploring the ever-increasing number of tech products that are being built on top of those foundations - specifically anything that can be used to make a small business owner’s life easier. Those are the ones I share in the A.I. For Small Business database and that’s why I do a test drive in each newsletter, so you can see the different A.I. products I’ve been trying.
I’m intrigued by how tech companies are using the A.I. foundations to create a product they can put their own spin on. And with it still being in the fairly early stages of A.I. development, I expect the quality of these tech products to improve greatly, which can only stand to benefit small business owners who are looking to adopt A.I. technology to help with their business.
🛞 Test Drive
What: Ad creation
Why: For this test drive, I wanted A.I. to create an ad for my business consulting services to run in my local newspaper
👉 SIDE NOTE: I’m sure many of you thought print advertising was dead but it’s definitely not, at least when it comes to certain community newspapers. (Full disclosure: I worked for a community newspaper for 12 years until I left earlier this year to do business consulting full-time.)
The reason advertising in a community newspaper is a great idea is because the people reading it are highly invested in what is on those pages, including the advertisements. They are taking an extended amount of time to read the newspaper instead of just scrolling through a plethora of posts and ads on social media. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t advertise on social media; instead, consider advertising both digital and print for a more well-rounded marketing strategy.
And, while I have a personal connection to community newspapers, this isn’t just my opinion. The stats prove it:
So when I’m doing small business consulting, I always tell business owners that if you’re looking to get the word out about your business in a community that has a well-read newspaper, I highly recommend adding newspaper advertising to your budget.
👇 And now back to this week’s test drive:
Who: I did a Google search for “ad generator a.i.” and ended up trying these ones out:
AdCreative.ai
Viewst
Smartly.io
Omneky
Pencil
Results: These were either geared more toward e-commerce ads, they seemed more suited to larger companies, they want you to sign up for a demo, or I encountered operating roadblocks (i.e. tried to upload a file and couldn’t get it to upload - this happened multiple times).
In fact, I only ended up actually getting ads generated in one of the programs (Pencil) but they weren’t suited to a print advertisement. So since none of them worked the way I wanted them to, I ended up just going into Canva to create my ad for the newspaper.
But just so you can see what I encountered, here are some screenshots:
Verdict: There is still a lot of room for improvement when it comes to A.I. ad generation, especially if you’re looking for a print ad (which I know might be rare since so many people seem to think digital is the only way to go these days). But between the existing companies who are constantly making improvements as well as new tech companies launching all the time, I’m sure the options will get a lot better soon. And I’ll be sure to let you know when I find one that works well!
🗞️ Headlines
Here are some articles you might find interesting:
5 Small Businesses Tasks That Can Be Done By Artificial Intelligence Tools - U.S. Chamber of Commerce
2024 will be the pivotal year for AI regulation - Fast Company
What you need to know about AI for your small business - Elite Business Magazine (UK)
🔜 Coming soon
With many small business owners curious as to how A.I. can be used in their business, I’m developing a course that will teach you what A.I. is and, most importantly, how you can use it to become more efficient and grow your business.
The course will be based on the following foundations:
Quick - My goal is to have it run no longer than 30 minutes. Business owners are busy enough so I want to teach you as quickly as possible.
Easy - There are enough things going on with your business taking up your precious brain power, so I’m developing this course to be as easy as possible.
Affordable - This course will be very affordable (less than $50). I want you to learn as much as possible for as little $ as possible. (Check with your accountant to see if you can use it as a tax deduction!)
If you want to be notified when the course launches, sign up here: https://forms.gle/mcAwePKDgF5wWUki6
⏩ In next week’s newsletter:
Why A.I. should be used as an assistant and not a replacement
Test drive - using A.I. for lead generation
👋 Who am I and why am I writing this newsletter?
My name is Melissa Hopper and I’m a small business consultant and entrepreneur. I’m not an A.I. expert but rather an A.I. enthusiast who became curious about how A.I. could help me in my business and help my clients in their businesses.
I decided to start this newsletter to share what I’m learning and what my clients are learning about how A.I. can help small businesses. To learn more about what I do, click here.
🙏 Thank you
Thank you for reading this newsletter. Please keep in mind that the views expressed in this newsletter are our own.
If there is anything you would like to see covered in this newsletter, please reach out here: CONTENT SUGGESTION
If you are a small business owner and would like to share how you’re using AI, please reach out here: SMALL BUSINESS OWNER
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📘 A.I. database for small business owners:
Click here to see a comprehensive list of A.I. services that can be used by small business owners.
Check out the latest videos on our YouTube channel.
⚠️ Please be aware that AI service providers continuously update their programs and services. As a result, some of the information discussed in this newsletter may have changed by the time you read it.
✍️ Editorial note: While we may earn revenue through some links featured in this newsletter (after all, we are a small business that needs revenue to operate), please know that any links posted will be because we genuinely find them to be of interest and not simply because there is an opportunity for us to make money off of them.