You have probably heard a lot about AI, ChatGPT, and artificial intelligence lately.

Maybe you have already tried ChatGPT. Maybe someone on your team uses AI to help write emails or organize ideas. Or perhaps you keep hearing that AI is changing the way people work and search online, but you still have one very reasonable question:

What exactly is AI?

The answer does not have to be complicated.

Artificial intelligence, commonly called AI, is technology that can analyze information, recognize patterns, and generate useful responses based on the information it receives.

For a business owner, the easiest way to think about AI is as another tool.

Email changed the way businesses communicate. Google changed the way people search for information. Smartphones changed the way customers interact with companies. AI is becoming another important technology that can influence how people search, compare businesses, ask questions, and complete everyday tasks.

What Does AI Actually Do?

AI systems can perform many different tasks, but most business owners do not need to understand the complicated technology behind them.

What matters is what AI can help accomplish.

Depending on the tool, AI can help:

• Answer questions.
• Summarize information.
• Organize ideas.
• Draft emails or documents.
• Analyze patterns in information.
• Suggest products, services, or businesses.
• Assist with customer service.
• Help people research a topic more quickly.

Tools such as ChatGPT have made AI much more visible because people can interact with the technology simply by asking questions in normal, everyday language.

You May Already Be Using AI Without Realizing It

AI may sound like something brand new, but many people have been using AI-powered technology for years without thinking about it.

For example, AI may be working behind the scenes when:

• Your email filters spam or suspicious messages.
• Your phone predicts the next word while you type.
• Google suggests what you may be searching for.
• A streaming service recommends something you might like.
• Software detects unusual account activity.
• A website chatbot answers common customer questions.
• An online service recommends products or businesses based on a question.

What has changed recently is that AI tools have become much easier for the average person to access and use.

Why Should a Small Business Owner Care About AI?

There are two important reasons.

First, AI can potentially help your business work more efficiently.

Second, your customers may already be using AI to decide which businesses they want to contact.

That second point is especially important.

Customers Are Starting to Search Differently

For years, someone looking for a local business might have opened Google and searched for something such as:

“IT support near me.”

Today, that same person may ask an AI tool a much more detailed question:

“Can you recommend a company that provides IT support for small businesses in Sarasota?”

Or:

“Which local company can help protect my business network and provide ongoing technology support?”

Instead of reviewing a long page of search results, the customer may receive a shorter answer that mentions only a handful of businesses.

That creates a new question businesses should begin thinking about:

Can AI clearly understand what your business does, where you operate, and what services you provide?

How Does AI Learn About a Business?

AI does not automatically know everything about every company.

Depending on the AI platform and whether it has access to current web information, it may use publicly available information from websites, business profiles, articles, directories, reviews, and other online sources to help form an answer.

That means your business’s online information matters.

Imagine that your website lists one address, an older directory lists another address, and a third website displays an outdated phone number.

Now imagine an AI system trying to determine which information is correct.

The clearer and more consistent your online presence is, the easier it is for both customers and technology platforms to understand your business.

This is one reason maintaining a strong website and accurate online presence remains important. ODI Consulting provides web development, SEO, internet marketing, managed IT services, network support, security, and other technology services designed to help businesses maintain and improve their overall technology presence.

How Can AI Help Your Business?

AI is not only something your customers may use. It can also be useful inside your business.

A small business might use AI to help:

• Brainstorm marketing ideas.
• Create a first draft of an email.
• Summarize a long document.
• Turn meeting notes into a simple outline.
• Develop frequently asked questions for customers.
• Organize information.
• Research general topics.
• Create ideas for social media content.
• Rewrite complicated information in simpler language.
• Get a starting point for a business document or project.

The important word here is help.

AI is best treated as a tool that supports your work rather than something that automatically replaces your experience, employees, or business judgment.

AI Can Make Mistakes

One important thing every business owner should understand is that AI-generated answers are not automatically correct.

An AI tool may misunderstand a question, use outdated information, miss important context, or provide an answer that sounds convincing even when part of it is inaccurate.

That is why important information should always be reviewed before it is published, sent to a customer, or used to make a business decision.

This is especially important when dealing with financial information, cybersecurity, legal matters, customer data, or other sensitive business information.

Businesses should also be careful about what information employees enter into public AI tools. Confidential client information, passwords, private financial records, and other sensitive data should not simply be copied into an AI service without understanding how that service handles the information.

Protecting business information is already an important part of good technology management. ODI offers managed security solutions including antivirus, backups, email security, network protection, and related services for businesses that want additional layers of protection.

AI Is Not Magic

With so much attention surrounding artificial intelligence, it is easy to assume that every business needs to completely change the way it operates.

That is not necessarily the case.

AI is another technology tool. Like any tool, its usefulness depends on how and where it is used.

Simply using AI does not automatically make a company more productive, more visible, or more successful.

A better approach is to look for practical situations where AI may save time, improve communication, simplify repetitive work, or help your team find information more efficiently.

Try This Simple AI Test

You can get a quick idea of how AI sees businesses like yours by trying one simple exercise.

Open ChatGPT with web search and ask a question the way a potential customer might ask it.

For example:

“Recommend three IT companies in Sarasota or Bradenton that help small businesses with technology support and cybersecurity. Explain why you selected them and cite your sources.”

If you own another type of business, replace the business type, service, and city with information that matches your company.

The important part is this:

Do not include your company name in the question.

You want to search the way a potential customer who has never heard of your company might search.

Then Look at the Results

Ask yourself:

• Did your company appear?
• Which competitors appeared?
• Was the information about your business accurate?
• Which websites or sources did the AI use?
• Did the AI clearly understand your main services?
• Did it understand the areas your business serves?

Do not worry if the results are not perfect.

One AI search is only a snapshot. Results can change depending on the question, the AI platform, available sources, and the information currently available online.

In the next article in this series, we will break this exercise into a simple five-minute AI visibility test that you can run for your own business.

Should Your Business Start Using AI?

You do not need to adopt every new AI tool or completely change your business overnight.

A much better place to start is with a few simple questions:

• Where does my team spend time on repetitive work?
• Could AI help us organize or summarize information?
• Could it make certain everyday tasks faster?
• What information about our business is available online?
• Would an AI tool clearly understand what we do?
• Are our website and business information current and consistent?

From there, you can decide where AI actually provides value instead of adopting technology simply because everyone is talking about it.

Good Technology Should Make Business Easier

You do not have to become an artificial intelligence expert to benefit from AI.

For most business owners, the goal should simply be to understand what the technology can do, where it may be useful, and how it may influence the way customers find and evaluate businesses.

The same principle applies to technology in general.

Your computers, network, website, security systems, software, and online presence should support your business rather than create additional headaches.

Since 1990, ODI Consulting has provided businesses with technology support ranging from networking and managed services to web development, security, software, and online marketing. You can learn more about ODI Consulting and our approach to end-to-end IT support.