Hey Marcus,
This week I’ve got three things for you: a new AI device coming for small businesses, a powerful AI tool you can use for free today, and a real-world lesson from Amazon about where AI goes wrong.
🛠 Tool of the Week: A ChatGPT Smart Speaker Is Coming
OpenAI is working on its first hardware device — a smart speaker with a camera, expected to cost around $200–$300.
Why should you care?
Imagine an AI assistant sitting in your shop or office that can:
Answer basic customer questions
Look at inventory
Help draft emails
Give hands-free reminders while you’re working
It’s not available yet. But here’s the takeaway:
AI is moving off your laptop and into physical spaces.
Small businesses will be able to use it in real-time operations not just for writing posts.
The owners who understand this early will move faster when it lands
⚡ Quick Win: Try This Before You Pay $20/Month
Google’s Gemini 3.1 Pro just ranked at the top of major AI benchmarks — and it’s significantly cheaper than many competitors.
Before you automatically pay for a premium AI subscription, try Gemini for free at gemini.google.com.
Use it this week to:
Draft customer emails
Create social media posts
Rewrite product descriptions
Brainstorm promotions
If it handles what you need, that’s money saved every month.
Don’t pay for tools you haven’t tested.
📰 News You Can Use: AI Still Needs Supervision
Amazon recently experienced a 13-hour outage tied to an AI coding assistant. The tool made a mistake — and humans didn’t catch it in time.
Here’s the lesson for you:
AI is an assistant. Not a decision-maker.
Use it to draft.
Use it to brainstorm.
Use it to speed things up.
But anything involving:
Pricing
Customer communication
Website changes
Payment systems
Always review before it goes live.
AI saves time.
Human judgment protects your business.
You don’t need to become a tech expert, Marcus. You just need to use these tools wisely before your competitors do.
— Main Street AI
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