Exploring the Role of Social Support when Integrating Generative AI into Small Business Workflows

TL;DR

This study explores how small business entrepreneurs use social networks to effectively integrate generative AI into their workflows, addressing challenges and ethical considerations.

Contribution

It provides empirical insights into the social support mechanisms entrepreneurs employ to adopt and sustain generative AI technologies.

Findings

Entrepreneurs leverage local networks to discover AI use cases.

Social support helps mitigate techno-anxieties and ethical concerns.

Networks facilitate sustained AI use through shared resources and boundaries.

Abstract

Small business owners stand to benefit from generative AI technologies due to limited resources, yet they must navigate increasing legal and ethical risks. In this paper, we interview 11 entrepreneurs and support personnel to investigate existing practices of how entrepreneurs integrate generative AI technologies into their business workflows. Specifically, we build on scholarship in HCI which emphasizes the role of small, offline networks in supporting entrepreneurs' technology maintenance. We detail how entrepreneurs resourcefully leveraged their local networks to discover new use cases of generative AI (e.g., by sharing accounts), assuage heightened techno-anxieties (e.g., by recruiting trusted confidants), overcome barriers to sustained use (e.g., by receiving wrap-around support), and establish boundaries of use. Further, we suggest how generative AI platforms may be redesigned to better support entrepreneurs, such as by taking into account the benefits and tensions of use in a social context.