Helping Small Businesses Put AI to Work
Partnership with America’s SBDC will expand hands-on training and local guidance, while a new report explores what small teams are accomplishing with AI.
Training Advisors and Reaching Local Small Businesses
Small businesses are built on ambition: a craft you’ve perfected, a skill to share, a better way to serve a community. But growing a business means juggling customers, finances, and marketing—often with a small team and limited time. AI can help extend a team's capacity, but knowing where to start takes time. A trusted advisor can make that first step easier.
Today, OpenAI is announcing a partnership with America’s SBDC (opens in a new window) — the national network of small business development centers serving 1 million entrepreneurs each year — to empower more small businesses to use AI at work. In this initial phase, through OpenAI Academy’s Community Trainer Program, we aim to train approximately 150 Small Business Development Center advisors and conduct hands-on workshops across SBDC networks nationwide, targeting at least 1,000 small businesses through in-person training and many more via one-on-one advising and resources developed jointly.
Small Businesses, Bigger Capabilities: A New Report
Alongside this partnership, we are releasing Small Businesses, Bigger Capabilities (opens in a new window), a report examining how owners and small teams utilize AI to expand their capabilities and accomplishments. The report reveals that during just one recent week (September 9-15), around 4 million small-firm employees worldwide accessed OpenAI’s tools.
Through the SBDC partnership, we aim to assist even more owners in developing the skills and confidence to explore AI's potential for their businesses.
Pilot Program: Training Advisors and Providing Resources
The pilot will involve training local advisors and offering small business owners learning opportunities, practice, and ongoing support:
-
Training and Credentialing Advisors: America’s SBDC will select small business advisors for an OpenAI Academy training and credentialing program focusing on helping small businesses apply AI. This training combines SBDC's community expertise with AI tools to equip advisors to guide owners in choosing suitable starting points, using AI responsibly, and assessing its impact on their businesses.
-
Hands-on Local Workshops: We will collaborate with SBDC networks to host Academy Workshops at each participating network. These three-hour, hands-on sessions will enable owners to experiment with ChatGPT on real business tasks and develop plans for implementing these tools. SBDC advisors will follow up afterward to provide assistance with any questions or issues.
-
Industry-Specific Resources: Together with America’s SBDC, we will create practical guides to leveraging AI in various sectors, including marketing, operations, manufacturing, and more.