Responsible use of AI for small businesses and community impact considerations.

Recently, our store received a 1 star review on google, not for poor products or services, but rather because we generated an in store flyer with AI. While I don't agree with the posters reasons as they are lacking context about how our business supports the local community. It raises a lot of opportunities for discussion around the use of AI and how it is evolving not only the entire company workforce, but also how small businesses conduct day to day operations. Below is my full response on this matter to clarify our stance on AI as I was not able to paste my full response in the review.

"Rosanna, and others who may share similar concerns (as I don’t believe we’ve had the opportunity to meet you in-store recently since our flier was placed on the counter), we took some time to thoughtfully consider your feedback before responding.

You do raise a valid point around the ethical use of AI and its broader societal implications, particularly as it relates to the displacement of human labor, environmental impacts and war mongering. That’s an important conversation!

At the same time, we are still trying to interpret your concern, and we’re not sure this specific situation fully reflects the broader issue you’re highlighting, if those are indeed the topics you are attempting to highlight? 

Are you a designer and feel we have displaced your opportunity to do business with us? To the best of my recollection we haven’t taken any design presentations for contractual engagements of digital design.  Are we arguing that without merit any local contractor should automatically be hired simply because they exist and it’s our job to find them and support them?  

Our points are; 

1. While AI was used to help assemble a simple in-store flyer, it may appear that this was done in place of hiring a local designer. That hasn’t been our approach, and I’ll provide more context on that shortly.  

2. To make a greater point, it can be difficult to assess a business outside the context of its actual products and services. We’d gently suggest that our products and services should have been the metric of evaluation instead of evaluating a business based on a single operational choice lacking visibility into our larger efforts of community support. More so, and especially, when discussing a topic as nuanced as AI, which rarely presents itself in purely black-and-white terms, rather a full spectrum of gray.  

Again, without a broader understanding of how or why that choice was made, leads to an incomplete picture. 

For example: Many businesses make decisions about vendors and services based on a wide range of factors, including internal capabilities, timing, and resources, and professional appearances.

Let’s apply this same logical model to other businesses and how they operate?

What would you say to a company that has done their own in house design for decades as they have had the ability to do since MS Paint was released on WIndows 3.1.

• Are they not able to do this from your perspective? 

• Should we all be forced to use MS Word, which is not a design tool, AND does natively integrate Copilot AI?

• Based on what and whos evaluation?

• What about actual design tools such as Canva and Adobe Suite?

• Are they, in your overly simplified model more evil than Microsoft one of the richest corporations in the world?

How has AI changed digital marketing for any of those organizations, or for the digital free lancer?  

That’s a rhetorical question and I’ll provide the answer: It’s only taken a lengthier process that was already being done in house by navigating a more complicated toolbar in our digital content program and converted it to a prompt.  The same prompt by the way that all digital marketers would also use in their freelance business.  

• Is your stance that local digital freelancers can not use or benefit from the simplified tools either? 

• If you are a freelance marketer, should we give your business or any other business a negative review for using that tool in support of their day to day operations of running their business in an efficient and cost effective manner which is difficult in today’s economic structure?

Stepping back for a moment, AI is undeniably a disruptive technology. Like many innovations before it — automobiles, radio, television, The Wheel — it brings both opportunity and challenge. It’s understandable that people have concerns, and we agree that thoughtful discussion, and action where applicable, is necessary to ensure it’s used responsibly.

At the same time, it’s also a technology that is becoming increasingly integrated into everyday tools and workflows.

If I may paint a picture of some of the benefits of how we see proper uses:

• AI can serve as a tool to help organize, interpret, and apply the growing body of human knowledge. As information continues to expand at an exponential rate, tools that help synthesize and make sense of that information can be valuable when used thoughtfully and responsibly.

One can no longer know and become experts in all of human society, history and STEM.  AI can be leveraged as a steward for human knowledge to categorize, collate, and responsibly curate this knowledge in the same way librarians and archaeologists do today but on a broader spectrum across all of civilization's knowledge. If you happen to be a Start Trek fan, I would liken this to the computer capabilities in Next Generation.

• Another use case; Imagine a world where chemists and biologists work together with AI to map the entirety of chemical proteins in existence and leverage this as a step to eradicate cancer entirely.  

We are on the cusp of that now, but it is being blocked by big business myopically intent on one metric of revenue growth, and enriching the few while the many suffer.

I would argue that is the point we must all work together on to push back and ensure it is adopted in a meaningful way to support society not detract from it. To rally against the wealth of a few benefiting while the middle class languishes and disappears.  

Similarly to how we leverage iPads for children to teach them the wonders of knowledge and accelerate their capacity for knowledge and growth, it can also be used to over stimulate them, detracting from their ability to learn and grow.  Our jobs as parents are to understand the correct notch on the dial for what is the correct content and time with that content before it becomes detrimental to said child.  The same must be applied to the responsible use of AI.

There are also important considerations around how AI is developed and deployed at scale, particularly by large organizations. Those broader industry dynamics are part of a much bigger conversation that affects many sectors and communities.

You used a Google platform to leave this review.  A multi-trillion dollar company that has not only decreased its use of human capital by tens of thousands, has openly led the charge to replace that human capital in its entirety.   Let me ask you what you’ve done to push back on them? 

How about Amazon and Walmart, do you no longer shop with them?

Do you eat a tomato in northern Vermont in the winter?  If so, where was that tomato grown? Where was it procured?  Was it strictly from a local grower and grocer? 

My point here being; that you have taken a stand against a small business for what your definition is for responsible community development without applying those same standards across the board. 

Nor have you applied the full context of how we do support our community while balancing being conscious of costs in an increasingly difficult world to survive as a small business as the multinational conglomerates have taken up all of the available ability for small businesses to survive. 

I would propose this is misdirected anger at us instead of bringing the fight to the cause of the problem.  

To bring it back to your original point, the use of AI in this instance did not replace a local designer.  From the example above, we have historically handled our marketing and operational functions internally. This includes not only design work, but also areas like website development, IT functions, bookkeeping, and other systems that support our business. 

From our perspective this is the most valuable community support we can provide: On the job training our employees receive to be able to step into any other role should they choose to in the field of IT, digital marketing, web design, book keeping or a host of other skills we enable and support them to do, while paying them real living wages.

In that sense, AI hasn’t fundamentally changed what we do, nor replaced job opportunities —it has simply made certain aspects of existing processes more efficient. Where we may have previously navigated more complex tools manually, we now have the ability to streamline parts of that workflow.

These are similar tools and approaches that many professionals across industries are also beginning to adopt in their own work. Presumably the local designer would also be leveraging these same prompts in their work as well.

We also believe it’s important to recognize the broader context of how small businesses operate. Many make decisions based on available resources, internal skill sets, and the need to remain sustainable in an increasingly competitive environment. These decisions are often less about replacing external contributors and more about maintaining balance and viability.

At the same time, supporting our local community remains a priority for us. We’ve worked with local artists to custom paint several of our walls on our whacky theme. Partnered with local printers, and contractors of various sorts and continue to collaborate with local vendors who provide products beyond our core offerings such as cups, mugs, and earrings..

While these additional products don’t directly impact our bottom line, they are meaningful ways we try to contribute to the local ecosystem.

We also participate in supporting local causes and initiatives with real monetary donations that address broader challenges within the area such as homelessness, substance abuse and cost of health for significantly impactful disease treatments. These efforts are part of our ongoing commitment to being a responsible and engaged member of the community.

We understand and respect that people may have differing views on AI and its role in society. It’s a complex topic, a thoughtful and POSITIVE dialogue is important and action as well, properly directed against those truly deposing work forces by the thousands. 

We hope this provides additional context around how we approach these decisions and the values that guide our business.

We appreciate you taking the time to share your perspective and hope this helps clarify ours. 

As well, we ask you to truly take these counter points under consideration and re-think your stance on our review and your discontinuation of being a customer of ours."