Small businesses are already using AI. Who is training their people?

On September 29, 2026, OpenAI announced a partnership with America's Small Business Development Centers to help small businesses put AI to work. Through its OpenAI Academy Community Trainer Program, advisors are being trained to run hands-on workshops and give one-on-one help to owners across the United States. You can read the full announcement here: Helping small businesses put AI to work (OpenAI).

We think it is good news, and it confirms something we see every week in Alberta.

The people are already using it

OpenAI shared a striking number: in September, about 4 million employees at companies with fewer than 500 people used its tools, and nearly one in five of them worked at a business with fewer than 10 employees.

Small companies are not waiting to adopt AI. Their employees adopted it on their own. The announcement puts the challenge simply: AI can extend a team's capacity, but figuring out where to start takes time too.

Where to start is only the first step

OpenAI's program focuses on helping owners choose a useful starting point, use AI responsibly. That is exactly where every company should begin.

The next step is harder, and it is the one most teams never get to: using AI the same way across the company, with the same checks, on real work, every day. One employee with a clever prompt saves themselves ten minutes. A team that uses AI well changes how the work gets done.

From what we see, that next step needs three things:

1. Training on real work, in the tools you already have. Not a new system. The email, documents and software your employees open every morning, with AI used inside them.
2. A clear line on what never goes into an AI tool. Client names, account details, anything a customer would not want shared. Using AI responsibly has to be taught, not assumed.
3. A way to know it worked. Attendance tells you someone sat through a class. An observed assessment against a written standard tells you what they can actually do.

What this looks like in Alberta

The OpenAI program is in the United States. Here in Alberta, employers have a different tool: the Canada-Alberta Productivity Grant, which helps eligible employers pay for third-party training for their employees. Funding is decided by the Government of Alberta. We can't guarantee approval, and we never cover or refund the employer's share.

That is why we built Applied AI Competency. Your employees learn over four live online mornings, apply each step to their own work between classes, and finish with an observed assessment. Everything happens in your company's own tools, so no client data or company files leave your business. A new class starts every round in 2027, beginning January 21.

If you want to know where your team stands first, the AI Competency Assessment shows, employee by employee, where AI is helping the company and where it is putting information at risk.