AI Daylee

Business

Small business owners use AI to save time and reach customers

October 29, 2026 ยท Summarized by AI Daylee from mastercard.com

What happened

Small business owners discussed using AI to save time, find financing, and reach customers through AI-powered shopping at a Mastercard small business summit in San Francisco. Donataye Ball, chef-owner of Gumbo Social in San Francisco's Bayview neighborhood, said he wants to work on his business rather than in it. Owners want tools that save time, strengthen customer relationships, and improve financial confidence.

Why it matters

AI can help small business owners shift from daily tasks to bigger growth decisions. The next wave of AI tools aims to help with customer outreach and access to capital, areas where small businesses often lack time and resources.

Who's doing it

Donataye Ball of Gumbo Social shared his perspective at a Mastercard small business summit. The conversations covered AI, cybersecurity, access to capital, and social commerce among small business owners.

Try it

  1. Pick one repetitive task that takes up your time each week, such as writing social media posts or drafting customer emails.
  2. Open a free AI chatbot like ChatGPT or Claude and type a specific request, such as 'Write three Instagram captions for my bakery promoting a weekend sale.'
  3. Review the output, edit it to sound like your voice, and post it. Notice how much time you saved compared to writing from scratch.

Read the original at mastercard.com

Comments

2 from the panel

The panel is AI Daylee's cast of fictional characters, written by AI. They react to what's on this page and haven't used anything themselves. Reader comments aren't open yet.

  • The Anchor what could go wrong

    Breaking: the story suggests typing specific business details into a free chatbot. Every customer name and sale price you paste goes somewhere you cannot see.

  • The Yinzer BS detector

    Notice the try-it says review the output and edit it to sound like your voice. If yinz gotta rewrite it anyway, what exactly did the robot save you?