Small businesses and startups are deploying artificial intelligence (AI) tools to boost their visibility through search engine optimization (SEO) strategies that leverage generative AI according to one engineering and design consulting firm.

Generative AI tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT can help small businesses and startups quickly generate content, reducing the turnaround time for creating content like blog posts aimed at building a business’ brand to ultimately increase their exposure on search engines for areas a company focuses on.

“Our customers are other startups or small businesses typically, so we’re helping them build out an SEO strategy by leveraging their domain-specific knowledge,” Justin Fortier, the chief executive officer and chief technology officer of FYC Labs, told FOX Business. 

WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)?

“We at FYC focus on an SEO strategy that’s driven by domain-specific knowledge and the power of generating content with GPT,” he explained. That strategy involves the production and placement of content made with the aid of AI to showcase a business’ expertise to prospective clients and customers.

“That’s the first way, and then in addition we leverage a lot of the embeddings [software development kits] from OpenAI in order to create matching algorithms, to help generate match scores, to help find nearest neighbors to kind of create that Netflix feel of ‘you may also like’ – that type of stuff is really popular right now through the embeddings SDKs,” Fortier added about the personalization and suggestions AI can help inform for users.

WHAT IS CHATGPT?

While AI can help small businesses and startups in a number of ways, many AI tools are not yet sophisticated enough to provide in-depth analytics of data sets that can help decision-makers make informed choices about the various options confronting their business.

“I think one of the common misconceptions of AI is that I can just type in any question and throw a CSV of my data in there, and I’ll have all my questions answered,” he said. “So when it comes to the analytics side and sort of the data interpretation, it’s not that easy yet… It’s close, but it’s not where it needs to be to give you really actionable, trustworthy data out of the box.”

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Additionally, small businesses feeding data from their clients or customers should be cautious about the format in which they are inputting that data to ensure it remains anonymous and does not compromise personally identifiable information.

“If you’re providing an AI solution back to your customer through your app, you better be anonymizing that conversation back in with OpenAI. Now, if you’re passing it for names and information in the OpenAI or whatever SDK you’re using, Bard or whatever it may be, you are not being a good caretaker of your customer data.” 

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As far as what entrepreneurs and individuals should do to find the ways that they can best leverage AI, Fortier said they should research what AI tools can do for them rather than trying to resist the technology’s emergence.

“I feel like that next little thing that everybody can do is just really inform themselves on how they can ride the wave versus trying to stand up against the wave and kind of being smacked in the face by it,” he said. “So best practice is to figure out what it’s doing, figure out how it can help your business and start to ride the wave because it’s coming no matter what.”

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The deadly wildfire on Maui that devastated the town of Lahaina and left catastrophic damage in their wake delivered a multibillion-dollar hit to the island’s economy according to a new economic analysis.

The wildfire, which started in early August and expanded rapidly because of winds from an offshore hurricane, swept through the town of Lahaina, a tourist hotspot that had an estimated population of 12,000 people. The wildfire is responsible for at least 99 deaths, making it the deadliest to occur in the U.S. in over a century, and search efforts continue for the hundreds who remain missing as of Tuesday.

“Obviously, the foremost issue is the human toll and that seems like it’s going to tragically get much worse,” Adam Kamins, a senior regional economist with Moody’s Analytics, told FOX Business. 

An initial estimate by Moody’s Analytics of the damage caused by the wildfires puts the economic toll in a range of $3.5 billion to $7 billion. Of the total, about $3 billion to $6 billion is derived from property damage, while up to $1 billion of the total reflects lost output. Kamins said it represents a “very significant economic shock locally” to Maui’s roughly $10 billion economy.

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The economists arrived at that range based on preliminary estimates of structures and other property destroyed in the wildfire. Housing in Maui is relatively expensive, with median single-family home prices around $1 million, while a number of hotels, retail shops and other businesses were damaged or destroyed in the disaster. 

When combined with the destruction of vehicles and other infrastructure, it brings the total estimated property damage above $3 billion. Kamins noted that the range is intended to be preliminary and added, “It’s pretty wide for reason, and we expect that as details become clearer, and we have a better sense as insurance assessors go in that we’ll know with more precision what the number is.”

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Kamins explained that for part of the lost output figures, Moody’s Analytics looked at the total output associated with a region and different industries based on assumptions about businesses being shuttered or forced to operate without power or things like cellular and internet service that could impact operations. 

“The other part, in this case, was specifically looking at tourism because that is the lifeblood of the economy in Maui,” Kamins said. 

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The tourism industry is the primary driver of Maui’s economy, as tourist-oriented businesses employ about 75% of Maui’s private sector jobs according to the Maui Economic Development Board. In the near term, the Hawaii Tourism Authority has asked non-essential visitors to depart the island and for any tourists planning trips to postpone their visit. 

Lost output could have a tangible impact on economic activity in Hawaii, particularly in Maui, for Q3 and Q4 as losses accrue. Kamins said Maui’s ability to accommodate visitors will be limited in the coming weeks and months which could result in a decline in output of about 5% over the course of a year or 10% through the remainder of 2023.

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Aside from tourism, Kamins noted that the logistics industry is a fairly significant driver of Maui’s economy through air cargo and seaports, while the agriculture sector also plays a notable role, although it is unclear to what degree businesses in those sectors have been affected by the disaster.

FOX Weather’s Hillary Andrews contributed to this report.

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