Minority-Led Small Businesses Are Using Generative AI in High Numbers, Citing an Increased Ability to Level the Playing Field

For all the doom and gloom surrounding generative artificial intelligence, there might also be a silver lining, especially for the underdogs of the businessworld. What happens when you combine a new technology that has nearly limitless potential with a small business with limited resources? Survey says: a better fighting chance.Nearly half of small businesses say that AI will help them level the playing field with bigger businesses, according to a recent survey by GoDaddy. Top use cases range from creating content to customer service to sales generation.

Most entrepreneurs (77 percent) used GenAI to create content for social media posts and advertisements for marketing campaigns (48 percent), per the GoDaddy survey. What's more, they aren't as concerned about the downsides of using the tech. A little more than half of the respondents (55 percent) say they are confident in their use of GenAI for their business.

The GoDaddy survey is from Venture Forward, the website generator's international research initiative. In February 2024, it polled 3,500 small-business owners, most of them employing fewer than 10 people. Venture Forward said all these entrepreneurs have a domain name and an active website with GoDaddy.

The most revealing stats from the survey came from diverse founders. When asked if they've used GenAI in the past few months, 33 percent of Black entrepreneurs and 30 percent of Hispanic entrepreneurs said they've employed the technology. On the other hand, 24 percent and 27 percent of White and Asian entrepreneurs, respectively, said the same. "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," GoDaddy said.

Unsurprisingly, younger generations utilized the technology in greater numbers than their older peers. Fifty-seven percent of Gen-Zs and Millennials used GenAI for their business in the past few months, as opposed to Gen-X (30 percent) or Baby Boomers (20 percent).

Of course, big businesses are joining the fray, especially since the latter are also investing heavily on the technology. Nearly all of the 200 business leaders of billion-dollar companies surveyed by KPMG last March said they are investing in GenAI over the next 12 months, with 43 percent planning to invest $100 million or more.