Artificial Intelligence is everywhere at the moment. In the news, in marketing, in conversations between business owners. Yet for many people it still feels a bit vague. What actually is it? And more importantly, how could it help a small business?

At our latest Hucknall Business Club meeting, member Ashley Ankrett of Byron Digital set out to answer exactly that.

Ash previously worked in design and digital at Linney, before striking out on his own in 2023 to launch Byron Digital. Since then he has built up a growing base of small business clients and, by his own admission, is much happier running his own venture.

His work focuses heavily on helping businesses use digital tools more effectively. That includes practical marketing, such as the Facebook Reels he recently created for East Midlands Ceramics, and promotional video content for events like the Castle Beer Festival, where brewery owners shared what they were looking forward to at the event. The message was clear from the start. Tools are changing quickly, and businesses that learn to use them can save a lot of time.

So what actually is AI?

Ash began by clearing up one of the biggest misconceptions.

The term Artificial Intelligence can sound more dramatic than the reality. In many cases, what we are really talking about is advanced pattern recognition and language prediction, something that used to be described as machine learning.

Tools like ChatGPT are known as Large Language Models (LLMs). They are trained on enormous amounts of text and learn patterns within that data. When you ask a question, the system predicts the most likely sequence of words that should come next.

The scale of adoption is huge. ChatGPT alone now has around 800 million users, a number that has doubled in the past year.

How AI Works

Under the hood, AI processes language in small pieces called tokens. A rough rule of thumb is that one token is around three quarters of a word.

When you enter a prompt, the system reads those tokens, predicts the most likely next one, adds it to the sentence, and repeats the process until a response is formed. It is essentially a very advanced prediction engine for language.

Where AI can help small businesses

Many of the tasks small business owners spend hours on each week can be sped up dramatically with AI tools.

Examples discussed included:

• Writing emails and marketing content
• Analysing spreadsheets
• Summarising documents
• Conducting research
• Drafting customer communications.

Used well, these tools can reduce tasks that might take hours into something that takes minutes.

Getting better results from AI

One of the most practical parts of the session focused on how to get useful answers from tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc

The key is the prompt. The clearer your instruction, the better the output.

Ash suggested structuring prompts with five elements:

• Context – background information
• Clear task – what you want the AI to do
• Desired format – list, table, paragraph etc
• Constraints – things to avoid
• Invite questions – allow the AI to clarify details

A simple tip shared during the session was to ask the AI to improve your prompt before answering. It can often help refine the instruction.

Limitations and risks

Ash was also clear that AI is not perfect. Systems can generate incorrect information, their knowledge may be outdated, and they have limited judgement. Businesses should also be cautious about sharing sensitive or confidential data.

Three common mistakes he highlighted were:

1. Using very vague prompts
2. Trusting AI responses without checking them
3. Uploading sensitive business information.

Key Take Aways

Ash ended with a simple but important point.

AI will not replace small businesses. 

But businesses that learn to use AI effectively will gain a significant productivity advantage.

The presentation sparked a lively discussion among members afterwards. For many in the room, the message was reassuring;  you do not need to become an AI expert overnight. Yet taking the time to understand these tools now could save a great deal of time in the future.

Want to know more?

If you would like to explore how digital tools, AI, websites or app development could support your business, Ashley Ankrett of Byron Digital would be happy to help. From marketing content and automation through to bespoke digital solutions, you can get in touch using the contact details below.

• hello@byrondigital.co.uk
• byrondigital.co.uk
• 0115 9635770