Small Businesses Rapidly Adopt AI; Risks Loom

A Chase survey reported in local Business Journals found 67% of small business owners are already using AI, 34% plan to start this year, and most report positive results despite widespread wariness about risks. Small businesses across sectors—including healthcare, retail and hospitality—are using AI to streamline operations, boost efficiency and expand marketing, with consultants noting a shift from curiosity to active implementation. Experts warn broader deployment raises infrastructure and security challenges: next‑generation AI applications could enable bad actors and sharply increase electricity demand—analysts have said U.S. AI power needs could approach the scale of an entire New York City grid. Higher education and workforce development are adapting, exemplified by Savannah State requiring a three-hour IBM SkillsBuild AI course for freshmen, and thought leaders urging universities to build “institutional intelligence” that scales with students. At HR Tech 2025, HR leaders urged reframing AI from cost-cutting to revenue and capability growth and warned that unclear objectives and poor integration contribute to high AI project failure rates. Personal accounts of job loss and rebuilding underline the urgency for reskilling, ethics training and policies to ensure AI expands opportunity rather than deepens economic fragility.