Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the world. According to the Department of Industry, Science and Resources (DISR), AI adoption in Australia is rising every year.

You might already be using AI through apps, websites and systems such as Microsoft Copilot, OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google Gemini or Anthropic's Claude. These cloud-based systems allow small businesses to communicate, automate processes, analyse data and streamline certain tasks, and more.

Free information guide

A guide to using AI in your business

You might use AI to speed up your processes, increase the quality of your output or provide expertise that might not currently exist in your business. We’ve put together a guide to help you navigate using AI in your business.

Read the guide

Ways to use AI in your small business

Some experts suggest that AI helps to level the playing field between large corporations and small businesses by allowing small businesses to do more in less time, often at a higher quality.

Here are some ways you might use AI in your business.

Summarise complex ideas

Saving time is often a top priority for small business owners. Instead of spending hours researching a topic, you can use AI to quickly key information, highlight important details and suggest practical next steps.

This can help you learn more about almost any area of business, stay up to date with new industry developments, understand emerging trends, or simplify complex technical concepts.

If you’re unsure how AI could benefit your business, you could try asking an AI tool “What are some ways a (insert your business type) can use AI to save time and improve efficiency?” as a starting point. This can provide ideas and inspiration tailored to your business.

Tip: Learn about prompt engineering

Prompt engineering is a technical term for asking the right questions to get the best results from AI. To start with, give your chosen AI tool some context on what you’re looking for and, if you have one, an example of what you need. You can also tell your AI tool how you would like the responses to appear – for example, whether you would like a list, to use a certain style or tone of voice or a certain format.

The more context and detail you provide, the more useful and relevant the response is likely to be. Taking a little extra time to craft your prompt can significantly improve the quality of the output and reduce the need for further editing.

Tip: Generative AI

The widespread adoption and fast paced development of AI is changing the way people work, create and access information. Generative AI is the name given to tools used to generate content, such as written content, images and videos. Using AI to generate content brings up a lot of potential issues and challenges related to intellectual property (IP), copyright, privacy and accuracy – and understanding these issues and using AI responsibly is becoming increasingly important.

Learn more about Generative AI and IP.

Streamline your processes

If there’s a time consuming task, workflow or process that needs to be completed regularly in your business, AI may be able to help you work more efficiently and improve accuracy.

You can give background information and prompt your AI tool to evaluate your current process, then develop a more efficient process to achieve the same outcome. You can also ask it to provide step by step instructions for the new process, making it easier to document and share with your team.

A feature that surprises many business owners is that AI can ask you questions about a project or process. You can ask AI what information it needs to produce the results you’re looking for, or have it generate a series of questions for you to answer.

Get more from your spreadsheets

If you use spreadsheets, formulas or coding in your business, you could use AI to get the most from your calculations.

For example, you could describe the outcome you want to achieve and ask your AI tool to create an Excel formula. AI can also find errors in your formulas, write code for your website and more.

Improve and analyse your customer data

Your chosen AI tool can help you process and analyse data, including information and insights gathered from your customers. For example, you could conduct a customer survey and use AI to analyse the responses, identify key themes and ideas, and summarise key findings.

AI can also help you analyse your digital performance and identify areas for improvement in your digital and offline marketing activities.

Customer communications

There’s no replacement for human connection and interaction but you can use AI to communicate with your customers in a way which suits your business.

You could use AI to help develop proposals, respond to communications such as email or even have it trained and used in the form of a website chatbot to provide your visitors with responses to their questions about your business when you’re not available. Just remember, while customer service and interactions can be automated to a point, the real interactions between you, your customers, your staff members and others in your business community are much more likely to drive your success.

Action to take

Whether you’re just getting started or already using AI regularly in your business, visit AI.gov.au to explore a range of useful resources, guidance and tools.

This Australian Government website provides information to help businesses understand, adopt and use AI effectively and safely.

Always check the outputs you receive from AI

Whenever you use information provided by AI, always review it carefully before relying on it or sharing it with others. AI tools can make mistakes, use unreliable sources, take information out of context or generate content that may not be relevant or appropriate to your business,industry or audience.

Be aware of the security risks

AI can be a useful tool for your business – but it’s important to understand the risks involved.

Before sharing any personal details or business information in an artificial intelligence platform, or using it to collect data from your customers, it’s important to know where this information may be stored, processed or shared.

Read the terms and conditions of any tool you use carefully. Stay informed through reliable sources about your chosen platform, and seek out trusted reviews and recommendations. Don’t agree to any terms you’re not comfortable with and make sure you have a good understanding of what you’ll be using.

You need to take proactive steps to keep your business, customers and systems protected from data leaks, privacy breaches, supply chain vulnerabilities and other risks associated with AI use and outputs.

Action to take: Assess your AI skills

Download and complete our artificial intelligence skills self assessment checklist to help you identify potential areas for improvement in your business.