AI for a small business: where to start
Pick one job that eats your week, try AI on it for a fortnight and time it. Here’s where to start, and how to keep your customers’ details safe.
Video transcript
When you run a small business, every job lands on you. Here’s where AI can help first, and what to keep an eye on.
You don’t need a strategy or a budget to start. You need one job that eats your week, and a fortnight to try AI on it.
Start with one job you do every week. Time it, use AI for it for a fortnight, then time it again. Keep it only if it really saves you time.
Good first jobs include replying to enquiries, product descriptions, social posts, quotes and emails. Tools such as Dext read your receipts, and Tidio adds a chat helper to your website.
Give it the facts customers usually ask about, and it can draft a friendly reply in seconds. Tell it to use only those facts, so it doesn’t make anything up.
Your customers’ details are protected by UK GDPR, even in a one-person business. Check a tool’s terms, use its business plan for business data, and take names out when you can.
AI can draft, but you’re responsible for what it says. Check prices and facts yourself, and take tax or legal questions to an accountant or solicitor.
Pick one job this week and give it a fortnight. The full guide below has a prompt you can copy.
In 30 seconds
- Start with one repetitive job, such as replying to enquiries, and time it before and after.
- Customers’ details are protected by Jargon busterUK GDPR: The UK law on personal data. It sets how organisations must collect, use and protect information about people.: check a tool’s terms, and use its business plan.
- You’re responsible for what it says: check prices and facts, and ask a professional about tax or law.
It’s nine at night. You’re answering the same three questions you answered yesterday, writing descriptions for a dozen new products and hunting for a receipt. An Jargon busterAI assistant: A chat app such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini that answers questions and does tasks you describe in plain language. won’t run your business, but it can take some of the typing off your hands, if you start small.
You don’t need a strategy or a budget to start. You need one job that eats your week, and a fortnight to try AI on it.
Start with one job, and time it
The best first job is one you do every week, that follows a pattern, and that’s easy to check. Answering the same enquiries is a good example. Doing your tax return is not.
A two-week trial
- Pick one jobChoose something regular and repetitive that you can check at a glance.
- Time it nowNote how long it takes you in a normal week, without AI.
- Try it for a fortnightUse AI for that job every time, and improve your instructions as you go.
- CompareKeep it if you save real time and the results are good enough. Drop it if you spend the time fixing its work.
Good jobs to try first
- Replying to enquiriesDraft replies to common questions about opening hours, delivery or prices, then read each one before it goes.
- Product descriptionsTurn your notes on each item into clear, consistent descriptions. Check every size, material and claim.
- Social postsGet a month of post ideas from your plans and offers, then edit them so they sound like you.
- Quotes, emails and policiesFirst drafts of quotes, chasing emails and policies such as returns, for you to check and finish.
- Receipts and bookkeepingTools such as Dext read receipts and invoices and send the details to your accounting software.
- A chat helper on your siteTools such as Tidio add a chat window that answers common questions and hands trickier ones to you. Tell customers it’s AI.
For the writing jobs, a general assistant such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Microsoft Copilot will do. Give it the facts it needs, and tell it not to guess.
I run [a small bakery in Leeds]. Here are the facts customers usually ask about: [opening hours, delivery area, prices, how to order]. Draft a friendly reply to the enquiry below in under 120 words, using only those facts. If the answer isn’t in the facts, say I’ll get back to them, rather than guessing. Enquiry: [paste the message, with the customer’s name and contact details taken out]
Your customers’ details
Names, addresses, order histories and messages from customers are personal data, protected by Jargon busterUK GDPR: The UK law on personal data. It sets how organisations must collect, use and protect information about people.. That applies to a one-person business as much as a big one. So before you paste customer details into an AI tool, check its terms: what it does with what you type, and how long it keeps it.
For business data, use a business plan: the version of a tool sold to organisations, not a personal account. The big assistants’ business plans say they don’t train their AI on your data by default. Personal plans, even paid ones, may use your chats unless you switch that setting off.
Check before it goes out
AI can get things wrong while sounding sure, which is called a Jargon busterHallucination: When AI states something false as if it were true, because it predicts plausible words rather than checking facts.. In a small business, that might be a wrong price in a reply, or a product description that promises something you don’t offer. You’re responsible for what your customers are told, so check prices, facts and claims yourself.
For anything legal or tax-related, such as contracts, terms and conditions, VAT or taking on staff, ask a professional, such as an accountant or solicitor. AI can help you prepare your questions, so the appointment goes further.
Pick your one job this week. For more on keeping work data safe, read using AI at work safely, and to choose a plan, see free or paid AI.
Check yourself
3 quick questions nothing is savedTools in this guide
- DDextCaptures receipts and invoices and extracts the data for your accounts.
- TTidioLive chat for websites, with an AI agent that answers common questions.
- CChatGPTOpenAI’s general-purpose assistant for writing, questions, analysis and images.
- CClaudeAnthropic’s assistant, strong at long documents, careful writing and code.
- GGeminiGoogle’s assistant, built into Gmail, Docs and Android.
- MMicrosoft CopilotMicrosoft’s assistant across Windows, Edge and Microsoft 365 apps.
Sources (7)
- Enterprise privacy at OpenAIOpenAI
- How your data is used to improve model performanceOpenAI
- Does Anthropic act as a data processor or controller?Anthropic
- Updates to Consumer Terms and Privacy PolicyAnthropic, August 2025
- Generative AI Security, Compliance and PrivacyGoogle Workspace
- Data, Privacy, and Security for Microsoft CopilotMicrosoft
- Advice for small and medium organisationsInformation Commissioner’s Office
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