AI basics for your business
What is generative AI? A plain-language guide
What generative AI is, what it does well and where to be careful, explained for people who run a small business.
5 min read
Generative AI is software that creates new text, images or sound from an instruction written in everyday language. You type a question or a request, and the system writes an answer, an email, a summary or a proposal. ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft Copilot and Gemini are the best-known examples.
How it works, roughly
These systems have processed vast amounts of text and learnt which words tend to follow each other. When you ask something, they build the most likely answer step by step. That explains two things at once. They write remarkably fluently, because they know the patterns of language well. And they can state something wrong with total confidence, because they don't look up facts the way a database does. They put together a plausible answer.
Many tools can now also search the web, read files or work with your inbox and calendar. They then combine fluent writing with real sources. The foundation stays the same, though: a language model that predicts.
What it does well
- Drafting and rewriting: emails, quotes, job adverts, posts and reports.
- Summarising: long emails, meeting notes, reports and PDFs.
- Structuring: turning a messy list into a plan, a table or a checklist.
- Translating and adjusting tone: more formal, shorter, friendlier, in Dutch or French.
- Thinking things through: generating ideas, finding counter-arguments, preparing for a conversation.
Where to be careful
- Facts and figures: always check them, especially regulations, prices and dates.
- Confidential information: not everything belongs in an AI tool. The article on free and paid plans explains which settings and plans are safe.
- Your own judgement: AI produces a first draft. You decide what happens next.
Three common myths
"AI knows everything." It doesn't. It can give outdated or invented information, and it knows nothing about your business unless you tell it.
"AI will replace my staff." AI changes tasks. It mostly takes over first drafts and routine work. Judgement, customer relationships and accountability stay with people.
"You need to be technical to use it." Not at all. If you can write a clear email and explain a task, you can work with AI.
What this means for your business
The difference comes from habits: knowing which tasks to hand to AI, how to phrase the request and how to check the result. A good first step is to pick a weekly task that is mostly text, ask AI for a first draft and compare it with what you would have written. You'll quickly see what it's worth for your own work.
Test yourself
Why can an AI tool state something wrong with total confidence?
Prompt to copy
I run a [type of business] with [number] employees. Give me five tasks from our week that are mostly text and where AI could produce a first draft. For each task, explain in one sentence how best to check the result.
