According to forbes.com, this week’s technology roundup for small business owners, written by Gene Marks, covers five developments: a new OpenAI small business program, deeper AI integration in Excel, a new Intuit business credit card, a new Claude feature, and a call for businesses to redesign their websites for AI agents.
OpenAI Launches ChatGPT for Small Business
OpenAI this week launched ChatGPT for Small Business, a program designed to help entrepreneurs and small business owners adopt AI more effectively. It follows OpenAI’s earlier release of ChatGPT Work, an agent built to complete projects and multi-step tasks. The new program focuses on educational resources, live training events, and practical guidance to help small businesses automate work, improve productivity, and grow using AI. OpenAI framed the goal around extending individual expertise, giving everyone access to world-class tools to help them achieve their ambitions. The launch follows a similar small-business-focused initiative Anthropic introduced earlier this year.
Excel Is Becoming an AI Reasoning Platform
Microsoft Excel is being repositioned as an AI-powered business reasoning platform, according to Excel Vice President Brian Jones, responding to a question about Excel’s long-term relationship with AI on X. Jones described a vision where Excel answers user questions in plain language rather than requiring mastery of formulas, pivot tables, or advanced modeling. Copilot is expected to take a larger role in analyzing data, testing scenarios, and supporting business decisions — for example, letting users simply ask why sales declined last month or where the biggest cost-savings opportunities are. Jones said the goal is for Copilot to make Excel easier to use so more people can reach these kinds of conclusions on their own.
Intuit Launches a QuickBooks-Integrated Business Credit Card
Intuit has launched the Intuit Business Credit Card, a World Elite Business Mastercard integrated directly with QuickBooks, giving small businesses real-time visibility into spending, cash flow, and expenses. Purchases automatically appear in QuickBooks, eliminating manual expense entry, and the card combines payment capability with tools for tracking employee spending, organizing receipts, and categorizing expenses. David Hahn, Intuit’s EVP and General Manager, described the card as giving businesses a single, connected way to manage spending, cash flow, and credit built around how their business actually operates.
Claude Can Now Learn Workflows by Watching Your Screen
Anthropic introduced a new “Record a Skill” feature for Claude Cowork that lets users teach Claude repetitive workflows simply by demonstrating them on-screen. Users start a screen recording, complete a workflow, and narrate their reasoning aloud; Claude then converts that demonstration into a reusable Skill it can execute later — useful for predictable tasks like weekly reports, data entry, or customer onboarding, though less suited to tasks requiring frequent judgment calls.
Small Business Websites Need to Be Ready for AI Agents
Marks also flagged a broader shift toward what he calls the “agentic web,” in which a growing share of web traffic comes from AI agents browsing on a person’s behalf — researching products, comparing vendors, scheduling appointments, and completing purchases automatically. He argues websites need to present information in ways AI agents can easily interpret and act on, favoring content that is consistent, current, and easy to verify, and suggests business owners start preparing their sites now.