Lesson 5 of 6

The AI tools a small business will meet

Chat assistants, AI inside the software you already pay for, automation tools and specialist apps. What each group is for, and how to choose without wasting money.

3 min readBy Michael Alos

There are thousands of AI products, and new ones launch every week. The good news: nearly all of them fall into four groups. Know the groups, and the choices get much simpler.

1. General AI assistants

ChatGPT (from OpenAI), Claude (from Anthropic), Gemini (from Google) and Microsoft Copilot are general-purpose assistants. They can all draft, summarize, answer questions, analyze files you upload, and help you think through a problem.

They differ in writing style, features and pricing, and which one leads changes often. For most small businesses, the best advice is simple: pick one, pay for it if you use it daily, and learn it well. Switching every month costs more time than any difference between them.

2. AI inside software you already pay for

This is the group most businesses overlook. The tools you already use are adding AI features, often at no extra cost or for a small add-on:

  • Email and office suites like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace: drafting replies, summarizing threads and meetings.
  • CRMs like HubSpot: suggesting follow-ups, writing emails, summarizing customer history.
  • Accounting software like QuickBooks: categorizing transactions, flagging unusual items.
  • Website builders, phone systems and booking tools: chat widgets, call summaries, automatic reminders.

Before buying anything new, check what you already have.

3. Automation tools

Zapier, Make and n8n connect your apps so information moves on its own. "When a form is submitted, add the person to the CRM and send me a message." Most now include AI steps, so a workflow can also draft, sort or summarize along the way.

This group is where a lot of real time savings live, because it removes the copying and pasting between systems.

4. Specialist AI tools

Tools built for one job: recording and summarizing meetings, answering your phone, chatting with website visitors, creating images or video, or writing marketing copy. Some are excellent. Many do one thing a general assistant can already do.

How to choose without wasting money

  1. Start from the job, not the tool. "Quotes take me an hour each" is a better starting point than "I should get an AI tool."
  2. Check what you already pay for before adding a subscription.
  3. Try it on real work. A free trial on a made-up task tells you very little.
  4. Check the data settings before putting customer information in. Lesson 6 covers this.
  5. Count the subscriptions. Five overlapping tools at a modest monthly fee each adds up fast.

Try this (5 minutes)

  1. List every piece of software your business pays for.
  2. For each one, search "[tool name] AI features" and skim the results.
  3. Write down one AI feature you're already paying for and not using.

Common mistakes

  • Buying a new tool for every problem instead of using what you have.
  • Choosing a tool because of hype rather than a specific job it does.
  • Spreading the team across five different AI assistants, so nobody gets good at any of them.

Check yourself

What are the four groups of AI tools?

General assistants, AI inside software you already use, automation tools, and specialist tools.

What should you check before buying a new AI tool?

Whether software you already pay for can do the job, and what happens to your data.

Why do automation tools often save the most time?

Because they remove the copying and pasting between systems, and can add AI steps to work that already happens every day.

Where could AI give your business the most back?

Answer thirteen questions and get your biggest opportunities ranked, with a rough figure for each. Free, about four minutes, no email required.

Take the AI Opportunity Check →