10 AI Tools for Small Businesses to Stay Ahead of the Competition (+ A Bonus FREE Tool We Made)

Like it or not, artificial intelligence software is here to stay. According to Forbes, by 2027, the market size of AI is anticipated to grow to an incredible $407 million. This will undoubtedly permeate into business (as it already has). That's why, in this article, we will explore the best AI tools for small businesses.

(I also wrote an article on rebuilding your business post-pandemic for business owners that took quite a hit due to the lockdown.)

Also:

I understand that the economy's tough, so let's start by going through some free AI-powered tools:

Best FREE AI tools for small business owners

Small business owners, you don't have to break the bank to stay ahead of the competition. We’ve compiled a list of the best free AI tools for business.

That's right, while all of these tools do have "premium" options, you can use their free versions with just a few limitations — so let's get started with the "talk of the town":

1. ChatGPT

At this point, every son, neighbor, father, mother, grandfather, and even newborn baby has heard about ChatGPT. Don't believe me? Did you know that customer data from February 2023 shows this AI software utilizing machine learning techniques set a record for having the fastest-growing user base of any application ever?

It's safe to say that this natural language processing tool developed by OpenAI is popular. And while ChatGPT has a paid option, most people use it for its free chat-with-a-robot-ask-it-anything feature.

You can even use it as an artificial web developer of sorts! It’s really smart. 

How can it help you beat your competition? Ask it, and find out.

2. Otter AI

You might not have heard of this, but it'll come in handy if you work for or run a hybrid or remote-based company. In fact, every single employee who enters into frequent online meetings should have it. The reason?

Otter AI transcripts your entire meeting. Yes, you read that right. Using voice detection, the AI can write what you and other people are saying. It can also detect different speakers and identify them in a script format.

(Side note: perhaps I'm biased because I use it.)

It really does make your life easier and can help your team keep track of essential points in meetings, improve performance, and ultimately win the internal battles to move towards victory over your competitors.

3. AnswerThePublic

To create a derivative of what I've said before:

Let's say for this one, every marketer and their wife, cousin, uncle, and intelligent puppy have heard about AnswerThePublic. It's a popular AI tool, and for good reason.

AnswerThePublic is considered to be a social listening tool. This means that it tracks searched phrases and keywords on popular search engines and provides data pertaining to this.

How is this helpful? Well, it can provide you valuable customer behavior insights that you can use for:

• Social media posts and ideas
• Web content marketing and optimization
• Blogs
• Product or service offering decisions

Get ahead of the competition and understand user behavior using artificial intelligence!

4. PhotoRoom

I feel like this PhotoRoom ad speaks for itself:

It's an excellent AI tool that you can use to edit your images. And as you can imagine, this has boundless utility for your business. The only limit? Your own imagination.

And, of course, it's also quite nifty if you need to get headshots of your employees and need the right background. Just pop the image in PhotoRoom and change the background. It's as easy as that!

5. Descript

Descript is an AI transcribing tool, but instead of giving you a rundown of your meetings (such as Otter AI), it transcribes audio and video content to be edited. What's the utility of this?

Well, because you can edit sound and video clips quite quickly, you can then use this content on social media, which will help promote your main content.

Give it a try; it's completely free!

6. Grammarly

As a writer, I feel your pain Amy Santiago from Brooklyn 99. 

Everyone's heard about Grammarly (primarily due to their extensive marketing efforts). 

Grammarly is largely AI-powered.

Poor grammar and incorrect spelling can hurt your readership, making people less likely to stay on a page you've written or return in the future. In addition, if you're based in the US but want to write for a UK audience, then Grammarly can help correct many spelling differences.

Don't miss out! You can try it out for free.

A bonus tool: Trademarkia.ai 

This is something we’re particularly proud of. We’ve created a legal AI tool that can:

• Assess the registrability of your trademark.
• Contrast trademarks for similarity.
• Create reports indicating likelihood of successful registration.

We believe that this is going to revolutionize the legal field, so if you want to try it out for FREE, check out Trademarkia.ai online. 

Best paid AI tools for small business owners

Okay, now that I've gone through the free options, it's also worth exploring some of the best paid AI tools. While not everyone may have the capacity to pay for online tools, for those who do, this list is for you:

1. DALL·E 2

Another one of OpenAI's creations, DALL·E 2, can create images and art purely from descriptions that you give it. It's straightforward to use and can be a great marketing tool, giving you free AI-generated images that you can use on social media and on your website.

The catch? Well, there isn't one. If you're willing to purchase credits to generate the images, you can use it to your heart's content.

2. Lumen 5

This video creation platform is different; instead of putting you in a position where you have to spend hour after hour editing your video, you can use artificial intelligence.

Employing machine learning algorithms, Lumen 5 uses AI to create videos.

You only need to enter a link to an existing blog post. From here, Lumen 5 creates a storyboard and matches every scene with the right video content. This is the perfect software if you'd like to run marketing campaigns but don't have the time or resources to produce video content in another way.

3. Motion

Did you know that AI can now be used to plan your day? There truly is no limit to how effectively we can automate tasks.

And how can this help your business? Well, think about the amount of time you spend scheduling your day. Now imagine if that time spent could be significantly reduced.

Time management apps such as Motion may seem overrated, but trust me, you will want to try it out if you've got a busy schedule.

4. Vic.ai

Did you know you can use AI to deal with even the most challenging business processes? In this case, I'm talking about accounting.

As someone who scraped by the subject in college, I'm glad that Vic.ai exists. Want to know how it works? Check out this video:

AI: Making Business Easier, One Digital Robot At a Time

Human and robot collaboration, even in dance…

Human and artificial intelligence assistants will work together for the foreseeable future. They're not only suitable for dealing with repetitive tasks — they also make great creatives! And so it's crucial that we get acquainted with them. Not sure about what AI-powered tools are out there? Check out this website.