OpenAI announced a pilot partnership with America’s SBDC to train local small business advisors and bring hands-on AI workshops to community networks. The initial phase will train about 150 Small Business Development Center advisors through OpenAI Academy’s Community Trainer Program, with a stated goal of reaching at least 1,000 small businesses through in-person sessions and many more via one-on-one advising and shared resources.
Advisor training and local workshops
America’s SBDC will select advisors for an OpenAI Academy training and credentialing pathway focused on helping owners apply AI responsibly. The program includes a facilitator pathway and a small-business workshop module so advisors can lead group sessions.
OpenAI and the SBDC plan Academy Workshops modeled on OpenAI Academy’s three-hour, hands-on format, with at least one workshop in each participating SBDC network. Workshop attendees will test ways to use ChatGPT on real business tasks and leave with a plan to try those tools; SBDC advisors will provide follow-up support.
OpenAI said it will collaborate with America’s SBDC to produce practical guides for applying AI to business tasks, plus one companion guide targeted at specific industries. Potential topics listed by OpenAI include marketing, operations, manufacturing, exporting, and government contracting, with materials shaped by what emerges from the workshops and advising.
Report findings and small-business use cases
OpenAI also published a report titled Small Businesses, Bigger Capabilities that combines usage data and owner experiences. The report found that in the week of September 9–15, about 4 million employees at firms with fewer than 500 people used OpenAI’s tools, and nearly one in five of those users worked at a business with fewer than 10 employees. According to OpenAI, agentic output tokens from products such as ChatGPT Work and Codex made up two-thirds of small-business output tokens in August, up from one-third in April 2026.
The report highlights areas where small teams rely on AI more than larger firms, noting that finance and accounting, supply chain, legal and compliance, and marketing each accounted for at least three times as large a share of small-business interactions with AI agents compared with larger-business users. OpenAI shared customer examples, including restaurant owners Ted and Tami Taylor using ChatGPT Work for menu price comparisons and Teri Moten using ChatGPT Work for targeted outreach that led to a booked engagement within ten days.
OpenAI said the pilot will collect follow-up feedback from owners to track what is helping, what remains in use, and where additional support is needed. The pilot begins with the planned training of roughly 150 advisors and at least one Academy Workshop in each participating SBDC network.
Original source: OpenAI News