Sam Altman’s rejection of a $97.4bn bid for Open AI (maker of ChatGPT) from a consortium of investors led by Elon Musk is the latest twist in a longstanding battle between Musk and Open AI’s chief executive. Musk and Altman co-founded the start-up in 2015 as a non-profit company, but the relationship soured since Musk left the firm in 2018. Altman is said to be restructuring the company to become a for-profit entity. However, His rejection of the bid does not necessarily mean the proposed takeover is dead. OpenAI’s board will have a say and may favour a sale, especially if the offer is increased.
Implications for SMEs
This is not only an example of what can go wrong when relationships between SME founders and partners break down (and future insights will look at this issue) but a takeover by Musk may also have significant implications for Artificial intelligence (AI) development. The usefulness of the technology for SMEs in particular may also be impacted by the UK government’s recently announced, ‘AI Opportunities Action Plan,’ which aims to make the UK an AI ‘superpower’. Local and regional authorities across the UK are being encouraged to put their communities forward to become dedicated hotbeds for AI infrastructure development.
AI is Not New
AI is not really that new. The first successful checkers and chess playing AI programs were written in 1951 to run on a Ferranti Mark 1 machine at the University of Manchester. Early iterations of AI were complex systems that could only be used by large organisations investing significant amounts of money, however what is new is the fact that recent technological advances mean that AI is now a powerful tool for small businesses of all sizes.
AI Tools for Small Business
There are several AI solutions available to small and medium businesses which could deliver benefits such as improved productivity, reduced costs, and increased customer satisfaction. The most common AI technology that smaller businesses will come across includes chatbots for responding to customer issues, tools to analyse data, and services to create content. However, adopting AI isn’t without its challenges for smaller businesses. Data can sometimes be of poor quality or out of date. AI systems can be time-consuming to implement, especially if the business lacks individuals with the necessary skills in-house and needs to outsource. There can also be legal concerns over the collection of sensitive data by AI algorithms.
Automating Routine Tasks
Entrepreneurs can spend hours dealing with time-consuming day-to-day tasks, whereas AI tools can handle many routine activities, so business owners can concentrate on more strategic thinking. Tools like Otter and Wingman can transcribe conversations, although at present it’s advisable to have a human review any transcriptions as accuracy and quality cannot be guaranteed. Diary management applications such as Motion and Akiflow use AI to build optimum daily schedules and are much more reliable for this type of task.
Many AI software solutions can create invoices, analyse financial data and collate employee expenses. The creation of content for marketing communications, researching and writing SEO copy can also be simplified by using AI tools like Grammarly, although the quality of the finished product can vary wildly. Tools such as ChatGPT can generate content or suggest topics by analysing your audiences’ interests.
There are also a number of Microsoft products called Copilot, which come free with a standard business license from Microsoft Office. One of these is an AI platform which is “walled off” from everything else (there is a full version which has access to your Word and Outlook accounts). This iteration of Copilot could be a good place to have a play with AI in what is a relatively safe environment.
Customer Service Chatbots
One of the most common uses of AI by small businesses is customer service chatbots to handle routine questions. These tools help relieve the pressure on human customer service agents and can act as a triage service. Many of these AI tools can also predict behaviour so that a more personalised service can be offered. AI tools can also quickly analyse data so businesses can use it to create, adjust, or adapt marketing campaigns and other strategic business activities. AI can also help to make HR processes more efficient by writing job advertisements and descriptions, targeting suitable candidates via social media platforms such as LinkedIn and automating the onboarding process for new employees.
Risks of AI Use
Using AI has obvious benefits for SMEs, but here are also certain risks associated with its adoption. If AI is part of software you purchase or download, those creators are responsible for their product’s use of AI. If you use free AI tools or software in your business, it’s important to review all AI products to make sure they are being used ethically, securely, and legally.
AI sources content from the web, so making sure anything you produce doesn’t infringe on patents, copyrights or trade marks is also essential. Equally, security risks still exist in the form of phishing campaigns that might have been written using AI. Therefore, don’t feed any sensitive data or proprietary information into the system that could be used for content.
Customer trust is also important, and it is becoming an expected best practice to disclose the use of AI. Tools that recognise AI-generated content may mark it as spam, which could negate any future outreach effort and increase customer resistance to your communications. The Motion Paradox team of start-up business and legal consultants, based in London and Los Angeles, can work with you to review and assess messaging, and outreach campaigns to make sure they are legally compliant and accurately reflect your business’s culture and principles.
