This week the government announced free AI training for every adult in the UK. The courses are short, practical and aimed at helping people use AI in everyday work, things like drafting content, speeding up admin and getting better answers from data.
Why it matters to SMEs
For small business owners, it’s worth paying attention to this announcement. AI has a reputation for being complicated, concerning or overhyped, but what’s actually changing businesses right now is very simple. AI is making a difference to businesses by saving time, making better decisions faster and taking pressure off when you’re stretched. That’s exactly why AI matters to us at Binq.
How Binq uses AI
When we built Binq, we were very purposeful about why we wanted to use AI. Founder and CEO Jamie Stewart had direct first-hand experience of building a business and of how time consuming the admin, comparison and constant monitoring of finances can be. He knew that small business owners don’t have hours to dig through dashboards or compare options manually. Our perfectly integrated AI connects to our users' account through open banking and helps them understand how their business is performing. It flags issues and guides business owners through decisions around funding, insurance and energy in plain language.
AI becoming integrated
The government’s move is a sign that this way of working is becoming normal. AI isn’t being positioned as something technical or specialist anymore. It’s being treated as a basic business skill, like using spreadsheets or online banking. For small businesses, that’s good news.
It means owners and teams who take the time to get comfortable with these tools can claw back hours each week. Less time on repetitive admin. Fewer decisions made in a rush. More clarity when it actually matters. You don’t need to overhaul how you work overnight. But getting familiar with AI now puts you in a better position for the next few years, especially as tools like Binq continue to build it into everyday business tasks.
The free training is a low-risk place to start. And if you want to see AI in action, saving your business money in the background while you get on with the important running of the company, take a look at what we're doing at Binq.
