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Small businesses use AI for efficiency; no impact on workforce employment rate yet

SAN ANTONIO – Artificial Intelligence could replace the equivalence of 300 million jobs, that’s according to Investment Bank Goldman Sachs.

We have seen the user-friendly nature of programs like Chat GPT and its counterparts but have we seen an impact in our community yet?

Local small businesses are actually using AI to be more efficient, and local officials say there haven’t been any noticeable changes because of the program yet.

“The name of my company is The Entrepreneurial World. We develop entrepreneurial skills in college students in the United States and Latin America,” Washington Navarro said.

Navarro is a small business owner who uses generative AI to make The Entrepreneurial World more efficient to help more students.

“What we learn really quick is how to utilize it and how to implement that in our benefit. So that happens in all cohorts that we have because the people that participate on the programs and the companies that we have, actually they saw an opportunity to improve and be more efficient,” Navarro said.

Artificial intelligence, or AI, might seem overwhelming and complicated, but it’s been around for a while, and odds are it has been integrated into your daily life without you even realizing it.

“I think that it’s important for people to recognize that, yes, generative AI is the latest and greatest version of AI and technology, but this technology has been integrated into the world since the early 2000s in a very recognizable way,” Ivy Vasquez Sandoval, a robotics software engineer at Plus One Robotics.

Ivy Vasquez Sandoval is a robot software engineer at Plus One Robotics, a company using AI since its inception.

“What AI is attempting to do is it’s a mathematical approach, a programmatic approach to mimicking a singular task that humans do or a small subset of tasks that humans perform,” Ivy Vasquez Sandoval said.

Generative AI programs like Chat GPT are used for efficiency, productivity, and speed.

“Kind of menial task at the moment. We anticipate that you know, that obviously, it’s going to grow as as time moves forward. But right now it’s sort of like we’re not seeing that big of an impact just yet,” Adrian Lopez, CEO of workforce solutions alamo said.

Workforce Solutions Alamo hasn’t seen AI replacing jobs, but they do urge people to start thinking of the future of the workforce.

“if you don’t have certifications, if you don’t have marketable skills, you don’t have the ability to sort of kind of continuously sort of learn and continuously move along with the market, then you may be one of those individuals that actually is going to be potentially replaced by AI,” Lopez said.

As for Washington, he has advice for anyone who has been reluctant with technology.

“Just be curious,” Navarro said.

Also on KSAT


About the Author
Max Massey headshot

Max Massey is the GMSA weekend anchor and a general assignments reporter. Max has been live at some of the biggest national stories out of Texas in recent years, including the Sutherland Springs shooting, Hurricane Harvey and the manhunt for the Austin bomber. Outside of work, Max follows politics and sports, especially Penn State, his alma mater.

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