One useful AI task: how to run a small-business pilot

Start with a task, not a subscription. The examples below are illustrative options to investigate—not products we have tested with named businesses. Choose work you can independently check, use non-sensitive trial inputs, and compare the whole workflow with how you work now.

When not to start with AI

Do not begin with hiring decisions, health or legal advice, payments, access changes or work you cannot check. Tools that transcribe meetings can process other people’s information; check consent, workplace rules and applicable law before use. A model saying its own answer is correct is not verification.

A worked pilot, not a success story

Hypothetical workshop: give a tool a public FAQ and ask for a draft customer reply. It may use only supplied facts. It must flag unknowns and cannot send the message. Test a normal question, one missing a price, and one about an unconfirmed holiday. A staff member compares each result with the FAQ.

Record setup, generation, checking and correction time. Include subscriptions and maintenance. Reject serious quality failures even when drafts are faster. Use the Pilot Decision Sheet to choose keep, change or stop from observations rather than guessed return on investment.

Privacy is context-dependent

OAIC advises checking privacy obligations when using AI with personal information. Most small businesses are not covered by the Privacy Act, but important exceptions include health services, trading in personal information and certain contracted or regulated services. The list is not exhaustive: check OAIC’s small-business checklist for your circumstances. For covered APP entities, automated-decision privacy-policy transparency obligations commence on 10 December 2026 where the relevant conditions are met, including decisions using personal information that could reasonably be expected to significantly affect a person’s rights or interests. This is a disclosure duty, not a universal human-review right. [OAIC: privacy and commercially available AI products ↗][OAIC: when the Privacy Act covers a small business ↗][OAIC: automated-decision transparency, commencing 10 December 2026 ↗]