MasterCard wants to help small and medium-sized businesses harness the power of artificial intelligence.
The payments company launched a pilot of a generative AI chatbot tool on Monday AI for Small Business Mastercarddesigned to help SME owners of all categories, whatever stage their business is at.
“AI cannot replace the power of human connection, but we believe it can be an exceptional catalyst for insights that can help entrepreneurs reach their full potential. » Raja RajamannarMastercard’s chief marketing and communications officer, said in a statement.
The tool was initially introduced in January, still in the development phase. Mastercard said it is now ready for the pilot to launch, following several improvements implemented during the year.
Mastercard cited a Small Business Administration survey revealing that more than 90% of small business owners believe mentoring improves their chances of success, but only 25% have a mentor. Mastercard Small Business AI serves as a hub for accessible, easy-to-understand resources and helps streamline the information gathering process for small business owners.
“You can’t replace the heart and soul of real humans with AI,” executive vice president of brand strategy and innovation. Cheryl Guerintold ADWEEK. “We are in no way suggesting that you don’t need a mentor because you have this chatbot.”
Mastercard Small Business AI marks the company’s latest effort to affirm its commitment to helping small businesses grow. It recently committed to helping connect 50 million SMEs to the digital economy and also offers Mastercard Biz360, a one-stop shop for accessing business management tools.
Rajamannar’s team developed Mastercard Small Business AI with Create Labs Ventures, a social enterprise focused on expanding access to technology to underserved communities, and trained the AI with inclusive content from organizations media companies such as Blavity, Group Black, Newsweek and TelevisaUnivision.
Guerin said Mastercard chose to work with Creative Labs Ventures because the company is a small, Black- and Brown-owned business and co-founder Abran Maldonado is “a OpenAI ambassador with unparalleled expertise in navigating AI and new technologies. She added that Howard University helped test the chatbot for overall experience and response accuracy.
Creators and influencers represent the fastest-growing segment of small businesses, and Mastercard is working with Clara for Creators to provide individuals in the creator economy with anonymized pay equity data and guidance on issues like such as generating business names, navigating copyrights, accessing startup capital or grants, building their financial know-how, and understanding hiring strategies and franchise opportunities.
Founder of Clara for Creators Christen Nino De Guzmán also shares his insights to help inform Mastercard Small Business AI.
Nino De Guzman launched Clara for Creators in 2022 with the aim of increasing transparency among influencers and making the creator economy more equitable. More than 34,000 creators currently use the platform.
Nino De Guzman highlighted the extreme pay disparity she saw in the industry, saying in a statement: “Many creators didn’t know how to price or negotiate their content because it was an industry so new. There is no minimum wage. There is no reference. How do I price my content? How can I get paid faster? You can negotiate. You can ask for more money. These are all things you should feel empowered to do.
She added: “Most of the time, small business creators and owners don’t have large teams, so if we can leverage an AI tool like this and get the answers we need and reducing the amount of work we have to outsource is incredibly helpful to us.
