AI is rapidly changing our world, especially in the workplace. encompassing everything from the launch of novel AI services like ChatGPT to the integration of sophisticated language models into consumer products like Windows, iOS, Android, and Google Workspace. But artificial intelligence is more than just a way to find information. If applied correctly, generative AI has the potential to greatly boost productivity. For business executives, knowing how to use popular AI chatbots and specialised AI business tools is quickly becoming crucial.
AI can also become expensive very quickly. If you’re launching a new business, some of the more costly enterprise AI solutions might not even be worth considering. Thankfully, startups and small businesses can now access a wide range of more affordable AI technologies. These are some of the best AI tools that business owners can use.
ChatGPT
Let’s start with a tool that you probably already know how to use. Even though ChatGPT may not be specifically business-focused, there are a lot of compelling reasons why small businesses should have access to this all-purpose chatbot. It could provide an answer to frequently asked accounting questions or act as a sounding board for brainstorming sessions. And that’s only a fraction of what ChatGPT can do. ChatGPT can help you develop original apps by using vibe coding, creating and updating emails, and producing marketing materials.
Although ChatGPT is free to use, the $20/month plan has increased usage limits. A $200/month subscription with new experimental features and usage limits is also available. If your business grows, you may also want to look into OpenAI’s enterprise ChatGPT plans.
Descript
For most small businesses, marketing is a crucial expansion strategy, but it can also be one of their biggest expenses. By assembling movies and altering the transcript in a similar way to how you would with a Word document, Descript enables you to start editing video content for business marketing right away. Descript offers a range of effects to enhance your video and lets you add AI voices to movies in addition to using AI to generate the transcripts.
Descript costs $16 per person per month and can cost up to $50 per person. Plans differ based on the number of hours you spend transcribing and extra features like 4K exports and AI speech.
Cursor
Your website, apps, and other software may be essential to the operations of your business, but improving those services can be difficult if you don’t know how to code. Even if you have a lot of coding experience, you have surely spent many hours creating your program and website. Both of these situations can benefit from Cursor, which, among other things, makes it easier for people with a lot of coding knowledge to find errors, polish, and improve their code, and for those with little coding experience to work on their code using AI.
Cursor provides a free trial, but it lasts for just two weeks. After that, you will need to enrol in either the $20/month Pro plan or the $200/month Ultra plan.
Canva Magic Studio
Businesses market their websites and videos with images and graphics. These images and graphics appear on websites, but they can also be found in presentations, ads, and social media.Canva Magic Studio is Canva’s AI-powered toolkit. Canva users can create graphics for advertising campaigns using natural language prompts, update existing graphics with AI-based editing tools, and improve pitch decks with better images.
Although there are some AI-based features available with the Canva Free plan, usage is severely limited. To fully utilise Canva Magic Studio, you need to have a Canva Pro plan, which costs $120 annually, or one of the business-oriented options.
Jasper
In marketing and advertising, text is just as crucial as pictures and videos. Jasper is specifically made for more structured copy creation and editing, even though many AI systems can produce text. To help it grasp your product, style, and overall brand voice, you can also submit samples of previous marketing text in addition to blog entries, social media posts, and general marketing copy. Jasper also provides several other helpful features, like picture and chat tools.
Jasper costs $69 a month per person, but you can save money by paying annually.
Otter AI
If your business has a lot of meetings, having them transcribed can be useful. Otter AI is perfect for this. It can transcribe your sessions and then allow you to search through the transcriptions to retrieve information about meetings later. It also has an AI chat feature that serves as an AI note-taking tool, automatically summarises conversations, and provides information to meeting participants.
Although there is a basic free option, most organisations will want to sign up for one of the paid plans, which start at $8.33 per user per month.
Julius
It can be difficult to use the vast amounts of data that are regularly collected and processed during business operations to grow your organisation. Julius is designed to do this. Julius lets you import a lot of different types of data and then ask basic natural language questions using one of the many built-in models. You can upload large files, and you can even instruct it to create charts.
Many organisations will choose to upgrade to the $16/month subscription plan even though there is a basic, feature-rich free plan.
AI Shortcut
Despite all the advances in generative AI, many chatbots still can’t help you edit spreadsheets directly. That’s what Shortcut AI is made to do. This recently launched service uses artificial intelligence (AI) to manage all of the tedious formatting and footwork required to create complex spreadsheets. If you’re struggling to remember how to create a pivot table or simply need help managing large spreadsheets, try Shortcut AI. Think of it as the intern you still can’t afford.
