How Does Your AI Use Stack Up?
Every week there's a new headline about AI. Most are about big companies, big budgets and big promises. Almost none are about you.
That matters. Lawmakers, investors and the companies building these tools are making decisions right now based on what they think business owners like you need. Very few of them have actually asked.
So we're asking our community.
This week we're launching Alignable's Small Business AI Impact Report, the first national read on how AI is really working for independent businesses. Whether you use AI every day, tried it once, or haven't touched it yet, your answer counts. The "not yet" answers matter just as much as the rest.
15 quick questions. About 4 minutes. Start below (please log in to Alignable or sign up for an account to complete the survey for your response to be recorded).
What you get back
Right away, Allie will have a personal next step waiting for you. If you already use AI, it'll point you to referral partners worth knowing. If you don't yet, it'll help you land your first networking win.
In December, we'll share the full results so you can see how your business compares to other owners: what's paying off, what isn't, and what people are doing with the time they save.
We publish results in aggregate only. Nothing you share is tied to you publicly unless you say so.
See you out there,
Eric
P.S. Has AI saved you real time or helped you land a customer? There's a spot at the end of the survey to tell that story. We may feature a few.
Comments (1-10)
“AI is part of my daily work, beyond occasional questions or writing assistance. At Scalable Growth Agentic AI, I use specialized AI agents for research, planning, content development, and workflow design. We’re also building connections between AI and small-business CRM systems, with human review and approval.
My biggest lesson is that AI needs clear processes, reliable information, and someone accountable for checking its work. It can produce something convincing without producing something correct.
I’d like this report to distinguish experimentation from systems actually running in a business. Small-business owners need practical evidence about reliability, costs, privacy, and the time required to implement and supervise AI, not just promises about what it might do.”
I was not able to fill out the survey because of the wording of the questions. Many assumed some kind of regular use - is it weekly or monthly, for example. Usage also didn't reflect my own. The future survey results may not reflect our collective reality.
I use AI sporadically as needed, primarily to research facts, to gain information. I don't use it to help me write, nor to gain customers, nor to find businesses. Those seemed some of the primary things being asked about.
I loathe and despise AI. I'm an artist and author and AI is being used against creatives like me. We're also being plagued with data centers because of AI.
Thanks for the opportunity to contribute to the picture of how AI is changing the way small businesses operate.
For me, AI functions as a virtual receptionist and executive secretary. It handles inbound phone and social media inquiries automatically, and it helps me draft responses to emails, messages, and comments.
As a solo owner-operator consultancy, I simply could not manage the volume of communication my business generates without it. In 2024, I was not able to keep up with the many conversations on Alignable without AI. Today, Alignable is my primary business network.
AI has not replaced the relationship-building part of my work; it has expanded my capacity to build relationships.
This is a ridiculously biased survey that makes huge assumptions, the main one being that we’ve all embraced and are using AI. Many of us have serious and valid concerns about AI that range from the ethical to environmental. I’m shocked that none of the concerns that we see reported on daily have made it into this survey.
AI had been a huge component of our ability to compete with bigger players. Glad i can share our successes with other SMEs.
I agree with Keith down below. AI has helped me in preparing the patents in proper order to assist my patent atty. Language is different for the USPTO and hard for an old man to keep up. AI kicks me in the but and is not always correct so one has to stay aware. I give it 100% though.
AI is the worst creation humanity has come up with to date. We are still too immature as a species to play god. It is built on ZERO ethics, intellectual theft, and with truly disgusting practices. I abhor the technological timeline that we are living in today. Using AI makes you dependent, dumb, and a participant in a predatory culture, NOT to mention the devastating impact it has on our environment that is already deeply fragile. Go live next to data centers and tell me how you like it. No one needs AI. No one. We are more than capable of solving all of our problems, but we let unchecked greed, corruption, and instutions of dominance and control run the show. And THAT is what is truly building this new technology. The companies that push and shove it dont care about humanity one bit.
Trying how to use AI with new leads.
Among the trade and service owners I talk with, the first useful AI wins have shown up in the office. Estimates, follow-up emails and job notes get finished faster, which gives the office manager back the Friday afternoon she used to spend catching up. Out on the job site, a good foreman reading the work is still the whole game. I am curious whether the report shows that same split between office work and field work.