But how is it playing on Main Street?
asserted
it → play → Street
Goldman Sachs is spending big in an attempt to ensure AI catches on.
asserted
AI → spend → attempt
The bank announced Thursday that it has launched the Small Business AI Institute as part of a $500 million expansion of its 10,000 Small Businesses, a program geared toward educating and supporting entrepreneurs.
asserted
it → announce → entrepreneurs
It said it would partner with Google, Anthropic, OpenAI and Meta to provide AI training and tools to entrepreneurs.
asserted
it → say → entrepreneurs
“You’ve got to embrace new technology always, because if you’re not embracing it, trying to figure out how it can make your businesses better, there’s a real chance that you can fall behind,” Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said in an exclusive interview for NBC News’ Business in America series.
asserted
Solomon → get → series
It’s a pivotal moment for the AI wave and its financial backers, including Goldman.
asserted
It → ’ → Goldman
The technology is broadly available to consumers, and U.S. economic growth increasingly depends on the buildup of data centers.
asserted
growth → depend → centers
“We believe AI will create the greatest boom in entrepreneurship and small businesses that the world has ever seen,” Sam Altman, CEO and co-founder of OpenAI, said in an announcement from Goldman Sachs.
asserted
Altman → believe → Sachs
“This is an incredible moment for anyone with an idea for a new endeavor because the gap between imagining it and bringing it to life is getting much smaller.
asserted
gap → imagine → life
Yet the growth that AI is already driving has also helped push up prices for inflation-weary Americans.
asserted
AI → drive → Americans
In the finance world, critics say AI is an investment bubble that could burst and potentially wipe out companies and jobs.
uncertain
that → say → companies
Cracks are forming in the AI trade in markets after Big Tech firms drove much of stocks’ recent surge to record highs.
asserted
firms → form → highs
The bank’s share price has approximately tripled over the past three years while AI-related companies pushed the stock market to record highs.
asserted
companies → triple → highs
Goldman helped lead the much-ballyhooed, record-breaking initial public offering for Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which counts xAI and Grok among its core businesses
asserted
which → lead → businesses
Goldman is also reportedly working on the IPO of Anthropic, the startup behind the AI chatbot Claude.
uncertain
Goldman → work → chatbot
“There is going to be a lot of financing to do,” Solomon said last week on an earnings call, “and we’re going to be in the middle of that.”
asserted
we → be → that
Goldman and other big firms are counting on small businesses, which make up more than 90% of all U.S. companies and drive most of America’s job growth, to buy in.
asserted
which → count → growth
It won’t be easy getting everyone on board, though.
asserted
It → get → board
A recent NBC News poll found that 79% of respondents believe the government isn’t doing enough to regulate AI use.
asserted
government → find → use
Sixty-seven percent disapprove of how President Donald Trump is handling the technology.
asserted
Trump → disapprove → technology
Trump has said he favors lax AI regulation from the government.
asserted
he → say → government
Meanwhile, some small businesses that already embraced AI have faced backlash from the public, including restaurants that used AI-generated images of food that critics denounced as “slop.”
asserted
critics → embrace → slop
Still, according to Goldman, entrepreneurs are adopting the technology at a fast clip.
uncertain
entrepreneurs → accord → clip
A survey this year of more than 2,400 graduates of the company’s small business program found that 86% of respondents were using AI in their businesses, up from just 56% in 2024.
asserted
% → find → 2024
Rechelle Balanzat, founder of the laundry services app Juliette and an alumna of the 10,000 Small Businesses program, told NBC News she sees AI as a tool to help her gin up more business with limited resources.
asserted
her → tell → resources
“I really treat my AI as my consigliere,” Balanzat said.
asserted
Balanzat → treat → consigliere
“They are not there to replace your accountant and lawyer.
asserted
They → replace → accountant
They are not there to replace humans.
asserted
They → replace → humans
However, it does help prep me to have much more meaningful questions when I am meeting with my accountant and with my lawyer.
asserted
I → help → lawyer
Despite the widespread use of AI among the Goldman program alumni, just 15% of them said they had fully integrated AI into their core operations, according to Goldman.
uncertain
they → say → Goldman
Mike DiMarino, who heads Linda Tool in Brooklyn, New York, was part of the inaugural class of Goldman’s program in 2010.
asserted
who → head → 2010
The company makes precision machine components for the military and aerospace industries, and DiMarino thinks AI can help with planning, management and processes.
asserted
AI → make → planning
“I’m sure there’s a lot more it can do that I don’t know yet,” he said.
asserted
he → ’m → that
But DiMarino is also cautious about how Linda Tool uses the technology, especially given how much sensitive information the company handles for its work in defense, aerospace and manufacturing.
asserted
company → use → defense
His concerns mirror broader cybersecurity fears about AI.
asserted
concerns → mirror → AI
In July, a swarm of about 700 AI agents created by OpenAI hacked into the open-source platform Hugging Face.
asserted
swarm → create → platform
Last month, Google said Chinese hackers are using AI to automate their attacks.
asserted
hackers → say → attacks
In addition to the security risks, company leaders are also increasingly raising concerns about the cost of AI, especially relative to its concrete impact on the bottom line.
asserted
leaders → raise → line
After spending on AI tokens exploded in the past year, companies from Uber to Microsoft to Meta have all taken steps to limit or re-evaluate how their employees use AI compute power.
asserted
employees → explode → power
A recent Gallup Poll found that a growing number of workers are worried that technology will make their jobs obsolete.
asserted
jobs → find → workers
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
