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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is either the equalizer of small businesses or the key to their future downfall, depending on who you speak with. The people who see the glass as half full recognize the advantages and overlook the drawbacks of the technology. Those who see the rise of AI as an empty glass served to humanity by your friendly Skynet robot feel quite differently. Pessimism typically isn’t very healthy for business ownership, though, so no matter which camp you find yourself in, it is better to accept that AI is here to stay and look at ways it can be beneficial.
AI for All
There are several AI platforms or agents currently on the market, ranging from small to behemoth in size. Some provide free services for basic use as a twofold way to get people comfortable with the technology while also building out their Large Language Model (LLM) through user interfaces and data collection. These LLMs are used to make AI responses more human-like and to limit stray answers, sometimes referred to as hallucinations. So, the larger the pool of text and interaction the LLM has to pull from, the better and quicker the output will be, so they depend on quantity or users to improve at a higher rate. Other companies have already built out their LLMs and are charging for the privilege of using AI as a silent partner of sorts in the day-to-day operations of businesses, research, or creative pursuits.
Understanding which model will benefit you best in your business will really come down to understanding what sort of product or service you sell, and where you may be comfortable with receiving the most help from an AI agent. Cost to the user, creativity required, and depth of analysis all factor into how you rate the available AI agents for your needs. Here is a look at some of the most popular agents, and why or why not they may be best for you.
ChatGPT
Probably the most commonly used by casual users, ChatGPT has the benefit of being an early-developed AI agent and therefore an early-adopted one. Versatile and easy to use, ChatGPT is particularly useful to business owners for its ability to organize your business systems and streamline communication with customers, whether for marketing purposes, email responses, or outreach, as well as creative endeavors. However, it has limitations, including a tendency to confidently provide incorrect answers. So, trust but verify may be the key consideration with ChatGPT. Confidential information can also be used inadvertently for learning purposes, so take care to ensure the correct user settings are in place before requesting a summary of a secret recipe or process.
Claude
Claude is growing in popularity for its strong emphasis on reasoning and analysis, which are key differentiators from other AI agents. Researchers and consultants, as well as technical teams working with large volumes of data, particularly like Claude. Certainly, one drawback of Claude is its relatively young ecosystem and its current status in producing more human-like responses. There have also been recent restrictions issued by the US government regarding the classification of the technology as a potential national security risk, and as a result, some models have been blocked from export.
Perplexity
A newer agent in the game, Perplexity approaches AI from a different perspective than ChatGPT or Claude’s makers. Its citation-first approach makes it more trustworthy for providing traceable answers for people who need to cite their sources and be assured that their answers are vetted. Perplexity also seems to be winning the war in marketing, as it has cornered top-tier proponents as advertisers, such as Joe Rogan on his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE). His regular use of Perplexity to verify his thoughts or answer his questions serves as a popular test drive for many people who may be unfamiliar with AI’s capabilities. However, Perplexity is essentially an open-source data consumer that reads information from websites to provide its answers. While focused on answering questions, this AI agent’s ability to act as a productivity assistant is somewhat limited compared to other AI agents.
Google Gemini
The real benefit of Google’s Gemini AI agent is that it is already integrated into Google’s productivity ecosystem. The ability to seamlessly introduce an AI agent through widely adopted services such as Gmail, Google Search, or Google Drive, and their associated apps, means they can bring in new users almost by happenstance, quickly growing their data pool for learning. A downside to Gemini is that companies that use the Google ecosystem may need to reconsider their data-sharing policies to prevent inadvertent data leaks or disruptions to existing useful tools.
As AI offerings continue to grow in variety and quality, the question will not be which companies use the most AI. Rather, the focus will be on who is using the best AI agent for their needs. Understanding those advantages of each agent now, in comparison to your needs, will be the real advantage in future use.
Want to know more about how AI can help your business? Read this recent article that goes into more detail on functions that can be helpful.