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Lifetime in IT…
now learning out loud with AI
The musings, thoughts and lessons learned of someone bringing a long career in IT to working with AI — what's worked, what hasn't, and what might be useful if you're figuring it out too.
AI for UK small business: adoption hits 47%, HMRC's £10bn AI tax drive and more
🇬🇧 AI for UK Small Business — 31 October 2026 1. Goldman Sachs launches $500m Small Business AI Institute with OpenAI, Google, Meta & Anthropic — Goldman's "10,000 Small Businesses" programme is expanding into a dedicated AI training push, partnering with all four major AI labs to get small firms…
Read more84% of owners think customers can find them online. Only 35% update their Google listing
Bit of a wake-up call from BrightLocal this week — the Brighton lot who spend all day watching how people actually find local businesses. Their 2026 report (surveyed 1,000+ US owners, but the maths travels) found 84% of owners are confident customers can find them online.
Read moreNotion now lets you use your existing ChatGPT plan — one less subscription to pay for
Small confession: I had two AI subscriptions quietly doing the same job. One in Notion, one in ChatGPT. Felt like paying for petrol twice. Notion just fixed that.
Read more53% of small businesses say AI already does the work of a full-time employee
Read a stat this week that made me sit up. 53% of small businesses now say AI and automation do the work of at least one full-time employee. And three in four plan to hand a whole job to software this year instead of hiring someone. It's a US survey, so the exact number won't match here.
Read moreChatGPT can now scan a stack of paperwork into one PDF from your phone
Every small business has one. The shoebox. The folder of supplier invoices. The pile of job sheets that somehow never make it into the computer. ChatGPT just made that pile a bit less of a problem.
Read moreGoogle adds voice AI to Gmail, Docs and Keep: what it means for small firms
Google has rolled out voice features across Gmail, Docs and Keep. Here's what each one does, who can use it today, and practical ways a small business can put it to work.
Read moreFive AI jobs a one-van trade can automate this month
Practical AI wins a UK one-van plumber, electrician, heating engineer or builder can put in place this month — honest time-saved ranges, real setup costs, and exactly what each one does.
Read moreHow to reply to a bad Google review with AI
A practical guide for UK small businesses on using AI to draft warm, human replies to bad Google reviews — the tone principles, the safe automation boundaries, and when never to use AI at all.
Read moreWhat happens to your customer data with an AI chatbot
A straight-talking explainer for UK small businesses on where AI chatbot conversations go, how they are stored, whether they train third-party AI models, and what UK GDPR actually requires you to have in place.
Read moreWhat an AI chatbot actually costs a UK small business
What actually drives the cost of putting an AI chatbot on a UK small-business website — setup, monthly fees, AI provider costs, and the pricing traps worth checking before you sign anything.
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