Unlocking Small Business AI Potential Creative Solutions Emerge

2025-06-25•Kate Rogers•4 minutes read

Small Business

Artificial Intelligence

Innovation

Main Street meets AI

Creative AI in Legal Practice A Novel Approach

Chris Schwegmann is pioneering innovative applications of artificial intelligence within the legal field. At his Dallas based boutique law firm Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann he occasionally tasks AI with emulating figures like Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts or the famed detective Sherlock Holmes.

Schwegmann explains that after providing opposing counsels briefs he directs the legal technology platform Harvey to adopt the persona of a distinguished legal mind such as Roberts to explore how the Chief Justice might approach a specific issue. At other times he turns to a fictional character like Holmes to unlock a different analytical perspective.

He notes Harvey ChatGPT and similar AI understand these personalities and can approach problems from their unique standpoints. Once we as lawyers get outside those lanes when we are thinking more creatively involving other branches of science literature history mythology that sometimes generates some of the most interesting ideas that can then be put using proper legal judgement in a framework that works to solve a legal problem he said.

This is just one illustration of how smaller businesses are leveraging AI to operate more effectively and new data indicates a significant opportunity for wider implementation.

The State of AI Adoption in Small Businesses

A recent Small Business and Technology Survey from the National Federation of Independent Business NFIB revealed that only 24 percent of owners reported using AI including tools like ChatGPT Canva and Copilot in some capacity.

Significantly 98 percent of those currently using AI stated that the technology has not yet affected the number of employees at their firms.

AI Boosting Efficiency Without Replacing Jobs

At his trial litigation firm which employs 50 attorneys Schwegmann shared that AI is completing work in days that previously might have taken weeks and he affirmed that the technology is not displacing workers at the firm.

He mentioned that it has freed up associate lawyers from performing routine grunt work. This also means that senior level partners have more availability to mentor younger attorneys because everyone benefits from increased time.

AI Adoption Varies by Business Scale

The NFIB survey found that AI usage differs based on the size of the small business. For firms with fewer than ten employees adoption was at 21 percent. In contrast at firms with fifty or more workers AI implementation was reported by nearly half of all respondents.

The data show clearly that uptake for the smallest businesses lags substantially behind their larger competitors. With a little attention from all the relevant stakeholders a more equal playing field is possible the NFIB report stated.

Future Outlook Small Businesses and AI Integration

Regarding future AI use 63 percent of all small employers surveyed indicated that the utilization of AI in their industry over the next five years will be important to some degree. Twelve percent considered it will be extremely important and 15 percent believed it will not be important at all.

Some of the most common applications identified in the survey included communications marketing and advertising predictive analysis and customer service.

We still have the need for the independent legal judgment of our associate lawyers and our partners it has not replaced them it just augments their thinking Schwegmann remarked. It makes them more creative and frees their time to do what lawyers do best which is strategic thought and creative problem solving.

Further Insights and Corroborating Data

The NFIB data aligns with a recent survey from Reimagine Main Street a project of Public Private Strategies Institute in partnership with PayPal.

Reimagine surveyed nearly 1000 small businesses with annual revenue between 25000 and 50000 dollars and also found that a quarter had already started integrating AI into their daily workflows.

Leveling the Playing Field with AI Tools

Schwegmann emphasized that at his firm AI is instrumental in leveling the playing field.

One of the things Harvey lets us do is review understand and incorporate and respond much faster than we would prior to the use of these kinds of AI tools he said. No longer does a party have an advantage because they can paper you to death.

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