If you look at the detail of how UK SME owners are using AI in their businesses an interesting picture emerges.

Overall take-up is increasing* but still a relatively modest 16%. Within those stats, larger SMEs are actively using AI within processes and as agents to improve efficiency and productivity.

But most (85%) are still using it for basic content generation, admin and research.

In reality, smaller SMEs are using AI as glorified Google.

 

Two interesting perspectives on AI

In this month’s piece I share two perspectives directly related to this from Rory Sutherland and Mo Gawdat – who spoke at our Biz X conference in Apr.

It’s safe to say they come at the issue from 2 very different directions – and arrive at conclusions that are potentially valuable for smaller business owners.

Along the way, you’ll also find out roughly when to expect the first great age of human utopia – which is nice.

 

Using AI systems to appear more human

Rory Sutherland is one of the driving forces behind the success of Ogilvy, and an authority on behavioural economics. He’s also very entertaining and well worth following on YouTube, and I suspect he would make a riotous dinner party guest.

His point was that the larger a business gets, the more preoccupied it tends to become with two core areas: cost control and regulatory compliance.

Innovation is at best the 3rd priority and even then, tends to pass through the filters of cost control and regulatory compliance along the way.

 

 

The needs of shareholders vs the wants of consumers

Because of this, they are choosing to use AI in their businesses with a focus on cutting costs and becoming more compliant. Which we know as consumers, is rarely a recipe for an improved experience.

This represents the hidden advantage for small business owners: namely that they’re not corporates.

We can choose to zig while they zag by doubling down on the thing they struggle with: human connectivity. This doesn’t mean ignore AI – clearly that would be mad – but rather to use it to achieve better ends.

In other words, to use AI to systemise or automate the parts of your business that clients neither see nor notice in order to free up time to then invest in more personal conversations and connections.

To use systems to appear less systemised – to be more human.

 

And now for something a little more sobering

That fed into the second speaker – Mo Gawdat. If you’re not familiar, he was formerly CEO of Google X – which as you’re probably aware is their technology arm, so he’s earned the right to express an opinion.

Just like Rory, he’s well worth following – and I enjoyed his book Scary Smart which detailed the positive and the negative outlooks for AI.

Although as a side note, he has increasingly moved towards the scary side of AI predicators. For example, he believes we are in year 1 of a “12-15 year dystopian period” of increasing job losses and global economic depressions – before governments can organise UBI effectively. In cheerier news he thinks that will usher in a golden era of human utopia. Swings and roundabouts.

Maybe not quite so much fun at a dinner party.

 

The problem isn’t that AI is dumb …

Let’s get back on track.

When talking about some of the perceived failings of AI – generic slop copy, making silly mistakes and a propensity to sycophancy – he made the point very forcefully that the problem isn’t AI – it’s UI.

The User Interface.

The problem is that the average user (ie not a geek) is just not yet capable of extracting anything like the full potential of AI tools.

Smaller business owners are using simplistic, clumsy prompts with vague parameters and hoping their chosen AI work it out for them. When the result is inevitably generic, the typical response is to ditch it or to use it as interactive Google.

Meanwhile larger businesses are creating AI agents to run entire aspects of their processes.

In time the UI will improve – especially when AGI comes along.

(Opinions vary on when and indeed if this is likely to happen; Gawdat has dramatically brought forward his prediction for this to “within 12 months”.)

But many of you will think it’s too risky to wait for that.

 

Imagine you’re not a geek …

Gawdat was asked a question by one of our clients which went something like this: “I’m in a business which is not tech-related, and I am most definitely not a geek, what should I do?”

Mo’s practical advice for anyone not wanting to get left behind and who doesn’t know where to start, was to begin with a concentrated fast-learning journey.

First, put aside at least 2 hrs a week for 3 months.

In that time, do nothing else but watch long form YouTube videos to learn about two key areas.

First, how to craft more accurate, probing prompts and to interrogate and refine the answers. To put this in context, he might typically create a prompt of two pages rather than to sentences. Quality in, quality out.

Second, learn how to identify what agents you need in your business and how to start the process of building them.

These are the agents that will do the lower value repeating tasks that clog up your time, energy and focus.

At the end of 3 months, you’ll be way ahead of most of your competition and well-set to begin experimenting at a level which is likely to get you sufficient results to justify carrying on.

 

Your call is very important to us

Maybe this message doesn’t grind your gears, but it does mine. If my call was important to you, you’d hire more people to answer it rather than leave me on hold for an hour.

Being too busy to communicate properly with your customers might have been ok in the past. Some may even have viewed it as a sign that you were really great at what you do.

But I don’t think it’ll wash in the age of AI.

Customers will expect you to have your basic processes hooked up and automated, leaving you with the time to handle their queries and concerns personally.

Or as Rory would put it, to use systems to appear less systemised – to be more human.

* Source: UK Gov Feb 26 (using data collected in May 25)

 

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