Small business owners have watched large companies fumble – and sometimes succeed – with AI, and then use what works

One thing I’ve learned about corporate America is that what it succeeds at ultimately trickles down to benefit small businesses. Bleeding-edge technologies such as the internet, mobile transactions and the cloud were first perfected by large organizations – government and corporations – and now they’re available to the masses at a much lower cost and with better reliability.

The good news is that it’s also the same for what they fail at.

This is the lesson so far with artificial intelligence. Thanks to the billions invested – and in many cases squandered – by big brands, SMBs (small and mid-sized businesses) have learned what works, what doesn’t, where to spend and where to abstain. Small businesses should be grateful. We’re getting the answers without paying for all the mistakes.

What works: AI for software development, customer service, security and voice. Big technology companies are already using AI to write, review and test code, allowing smaller development teams to accomplish more. Other firms have leaned in to AI to help with a variety of customer service processes with some success. IT departments are relying heavily on AI-enabled security platforms to detect and remedy unusual behavior, phishing attacks, and other vulnerabilities. Big brands are rolling out more AI-powered voice systems that answer incoming calls and perform rudimentary actions.

A countless number of the developers laid off by big tech are using AI tools to replicate themselves and provide services for smaller companies on a larger scale, and we’re hiring them.

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