Generative AI Levels the Playing Field for Small Businesses, Says Survey

Forty-four percent of microbusiness owners believe that generative artificial intelligence will help them compete with larger businesses

inbusinessPHX.com

More U.S. microbusinesses are using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to grow and compete, with 50% of owners and operators recently surveyed indicating they have tried Gen AI tools in the past few months. The findings come from GoDaddy‘s international research initiative, Venture Forward, which quantifies the economic impact of small businesses and explores their owners’ experiences, challenges and ambitions.

The Venture Forward 2024 U.S. National Survey found that 44% of microbusinesses, which have 10 or fewer employees, a domain and an active website, agree that GenAI helps them compete with big businesses.

However, attitudes, long-term goals and use cases that stem from GenAI usage vary across demographic groups. Key findings include:

Young (those aged 18-35) and Black microbusiness owners are 50% more likely to have used GenAI for their business in the last several months compared with their white counterparts.
About one in three Black and Hispanic-owned microbusinesses use GenAI for business while only one out of every four white- and Asian-owned microbusinesses use GenAI for business.
Those relying on or trying GenAI for their business use it most frequently for content creation, regardless of race or age. However, Black-owned microbusinesses are almost twice as likely as white-owned microbusinesses to use it for customer service.
Gen AI users have a more positive outlook about their business (81%) and the national economy (40%). This is true for those who have used Gen AI for business. Those who haven’t used GenAI tend to have a more negative outlook about both their business (72%) and national economy (36%).

“Generative AI is already showing early potential to help level the playing field for small businesses as they go up against larger and often better-resourced competitors,” said Alexandra Rosen, senior director of GoDaddy’s Venture Forward research initiative. “We’re seeing the most ambitious ones embrace it the fastest.”

Explore the survey results here.