Goldman Sachs Commits $500 Million to AI Training for Small Business Owners

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon announced on Thursday that the bank will spend $500 million to help small-business owners learn how to use artificial intelligence (AI). He made the announcement at the launch of the bank's new Small Business AI Institute.

Fortune reports that Solomon announced the plan with four technology companies: Anthropic, Google, Meta and OpenAI. The $500 million will pay for the next stage of Goldman Sachs' 10,000 Small Businesses program. Since the program began in 2010, nearly 20,000 business owners have completed it. The program started as part of an earlier promise to spend $1.25 billion. The new stage will focus on teaching business owners, helping them get money to grow their businesses, and giving them support services.

Solomon said that small businesses make up 99 percent of all businesses in the United States. He called them a "hugely important ecosystem," meaning they are a very important part of the economy. The new institute will focus on three things: AI classes and training offered by each technology partner, research on how small businesses use AI, and more ways for businesses to get funding.

Each technology company will provide different kinds of help. Anthropic will create lessons about practical ways small businesses can use AI. It will also hold workshops where people who have completed the program can practice using AI tools. Anthropic will study how small businesses use AI, too. Google will give nearly 20,000 small-business owners and workers access to its Grow with Google AI Professional certificate program. They will also receive three months of free access to Google AI Pro. Meta will provide AI tools and training through its Muse for Small Business program. OpenAI will hold AI workshops through community colleges that work with the Goldman Sachs program.

Solomon told small-business owners that they do not need to hurry when starting to use AI. "At the moment, this is an expensive technology," he said. He explained that business owners should not feel they must become AI experts right away or understand everything within three weeks. Instead, they should think about whether the money they spend on AI will help their businesses. AI might help with sales, customer service, making products, and buying supplies. Solomon said businesses need to consider the cost of using AI platforms, including charges for tokens, which are units used to measure AI activity. He explained that AI can be worth the cost if it helps workers get more done. His main advice was: "The important thing is to get it right, not to get it quicker."

Solomon also explained that small businesses do not necessarily need the newest and most powerful AI systems. These advanced systems are called "frontier models." He said the development of these models will be very interesting and that AI technology is changing extremely quickly. However, he said, "there's very little that we do where we need frontier models." In other words, most everyday business tasks do not require the most advanced AI. Solomon said people should separate the big questions about developing powerful new AI systems from the simpler question of how businesses can use AI tools that already exist. He also said getting money to run or grow a business remains difficult. "Access to capital continues to be a constraint," he explained. When discussing how AI might affect jobs, Solomon said AI could help business owners handle more important planning and decision-making tasks without paying to hire outside workers. He said this does not necessarily mean cutting jobs. Instead, AI can help a business do more without adding regular fixed costs, such as the cost of extra employees.