I'm John Batchel with Gene Marks, a small business columnist for the Gardy newspaper

of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

He has a Forbes column.

He collects his publications and his podcasts on Medium.

We turn now to the question of AI in productivity.

It's logical that it's happening.

Do you see it, Gene?

Do the small businesses who talk to you about it feel it?

So it's a really good question.

No one knows how to measure this right now, John.

You know, there is, on the one side of things, AI itself, you know, there's always been this threat that AI will

replace workers. Now, I just drafted a piece for, believe it or not for USA Today, which

should be coming out next week, that argues against that when it comes to small businesses.

Most small businesses

are, they desperately want AI not to replace their workers, but to make them more productive

so that they can expand, they can grow, they can get more done with their existing workforce.

Whenever I hear of companies laying off, you know, the media loves to report about, you know,

big companies laying off tens of thousands of workers and they're blaming AI. And I always have,

you know, I'm dubious of those claims because I think some of it is mismanagement and just

usual corporate bloat. But AI itself has been used by smaller businesses with the hopes

of increasing productivity, getting more done

with their existing staff.

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