AI and the Future of Your Business

An old truism advises it is all in how you word it. Small businesses are finding that it is especially accurate as they venture into using artificial intelligence (AI).

The North Augusta Chamber of Commerce kicked off its Power Lunch series for 2025 with “AI: The Future of Business Starts Here.”

Matthew Jay, Chief Operating Officer with PC Techware, explained the importance of being accurate and precise when giving instructions to AI.

He said successfully using AI is no different from a basic principle for any business. He said it means using the most up-to-date data to get the most up-to-date results, especially when telling AI what you want.

“This is all about prompt engineering, how I talk to it,” he explained. “I love this topic because it’s all about critical thinking, which is a skill that we all see could be improved in organizations today without AI. I also like this topic too, because it starts to hit on people that care about education, how should we be developing talent, and what skill sets are going to be valuable as AI becomes a thing.”

He believes small businesses in particular can use AI to their advantage, to give them an edge in the race to remain competitive.

Focusing on generative AI like ChatGPT, Jay said it can be a secret weapon, if used consistently and properly.

“There are so many applications for it. You should think about AI as a kind of sous chef. It gets everything ready to go, preps everything so that the chef can kind of create this masterpiece and make a final presentation,” he said. “Up to 45% of tasks currently performed by humans can be automated. “When you start looking at things and questioning time, ‘Why are we doing that? This is a task that is repeated all the time’ those are perfect opportunities for AI.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) encourages small businesses to explore using AI, but to start small. It recommends investigating the AI tools currently available at little or no cost and using them for practice.

SBA has a webpage running through the benefits small businesses can gain by using AI (www.sba.gov/business-guide/manage-your-business/ai-small-business). It includes the benefits and risks of using AI, along with how to use it ethically.

The first benefit SBA lists is that it can improve efficiency by helping business owners save time, along with cost-cutting and compensating for a shortage of skilled labor.

Other benefits are:

  • Solve problems before they happen.
  • Safeguard your data.
  • Make better business decisions.
  • Take on repeat tasks.
  • Create business content.
  • Collaborate and brainstorm.
  • Improve customer service.

 

Like Jay, the SBA recommends becoming familiar with how best to give any AI tool prompts using precise verbiage. The agency recommends information on prompt writing from the Harvard University Information Technology Department. www.huit.harvard.edu/news/ai-prompts

Learning how to write prompts to get the best result from AI will be the focus of an upcoming workshop at theClubhou.se.

Organized by IT-managed service company Managed Nerds, EntrepreAI Tuesday will walk attendees through the first steps of interacting with AI.

The Jan. 28 class will be held in theClubhou.se, on the third floor of the Hull McKnight Building of the Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center at 100 Grace Hopper Lane, just off 12th St. It will be from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.

There is a $25.00 fee to attend the class because it will include lunch for attendees. Registration is at www.managednerds.tech/training/entrepreai-tuesdays/

Managed Nerds CEO Sharon Martin envisions the EntrepreAI Tuesday class will be a monthly program, set for the fourth Tuesday of the month. Registration for the February class is also available.

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