OpenAI partners with America's SBDC: train 150 advisors, reach 1,000 small businesses

OpenAI announced a partnership with America's SBDC (America's Small Business Development Centers) on September 30, training about 150 SBDC advisors through OpenAI Academy's Community Trainer Program and delivering Academy Workshops within the SBDC network, with a target of reaching at least 1,000 small businesses. Advisors and clients who complete in-person workshops receive free ChatGPT Plus access. OpenAI and America's SBDC will co-develop practical guides covering marketing, operations, manufacturing, exporting, and government contracting, with potential companion guides for specific industries.

A new report published the same day, "Small Businesses, Bigger Capabilities," draws on OpenAI's own data to show how small firms are using AI. During the week of September 9-15, roughly 4 million employees at companies with fewer than 500 people used OpenAI products, with nearly one in five working at businesses with fewer than 10 employees. Agentic output tokens for products like ChatGPT Work and Codex reached two-thirds of all small business output tokens in August, up from one-third in April. In finance and accounting, supply chain, legal and compliance, and marketing, small business users' share of AI agent interactions was at least three times that of larger business users.

The report includes concrete examples: Ted and Tami Taylor, who run three restaurants in New Mexico, used ChatGPT Work to compare competitors' menu prices before updating their own, avoiding price increases that would have made some items uncompetitive. Teri Moten in South Texas used ChatGPT Work to research school districts and prepare tailored outreach, booking a paid training session within ten days. America's SBDC President and CEO Tee Rowe noted that the network serves about 1 million entrepreneurs annually, and its latest annual report shows clients secured more than $5.53 billion in capital.