Research, practical frameworks and guidance for businesses, filed under Business owners.
Most staff in small and medium-sized businesses already use AI tools nobody approved. Banning them drives the habit underground. Here is the one-week Daylight Rule for bringing shadow AI into the open: ask first, sort every use into keep, move or stop, and supply an approved home before you forbid anything.
AI belongs in small business customer service, but not where most owners start. Here is what customers want, who is liable when a chatbot gets it wrong, and the Promise Rule for deciding what AI may say to a customer.
AI agents act rather than advise: they send, book and update on your behalf. Here is what that changes for a small business, where the pitch outruns the evidence, and a simple test for deciding which errands an agent can take and which must stay with people.
Yes, and it should fit on one page. Your staff are probably already using AI on personal accounts. Here is what a small-business AI policy must answer, what UK GDPR, US guidance and the EU AI Act's AI literacy duty mean for you, and what to do this week.
Most small businesses have tried AI, and few have changed how the work gets done. Dan Fitzpatrick's answer: start with one job, not one tool. How to pick that job, the three rules to write first, and a 30-day plan for a small team.
