There has to be a better way.
That’s what David Hogan thought as he studied a long and voluminous PDF document, nearly 300 pages long. Hogan works as director of IT at North Easton Savings Bank, a regional bank in Massachusetts, and this extensive document serves as a helpful but thick retail guide for bankers.
Hogan thought aloud and wondered if he could create a chatbot to help navigate constantly updated documents. Our banking colleagues took on this challenge with the help of artificial intelligence. The results were amazing. “He rebuilt the chatbot in two days,” Hogan said. “I was surprised at how quickly the work was done.”
Hogan was used to standard IT projects that took several months to complete. By quickly creating a chatbot, he realized the potential of AI for organizations. “When you introduce a chatbot two days later, it’s eye-opening,” he said. “You know you have to be careful.”
Hogan’s bank was one of 21 small businesses to participate in the AI Innovators Bootcamp held at Babson College in October. An ongoing program led by Babson’s interdisciplinary AI lab, The Generator, the bootcamp includes both Babson faculty and students to provide small and medium-sized businesses with a one-day hands-on experience with technology and demonstrate how technology can enable innovation and improve the way organizations operate.
The October bootcamp is the second time The Generator has offered this program. More sessions are planned. As AI continues to force organizations to combat its effects, The Generator plans to train 1,000 small businesses through future bootcamps. It will be incorporated into a new undergraduate course in the spring.
Students play an important role in the bootcamp, many of which work closely with businesses owned by Babson alumni. “Building relationships between Babson College’s AI-savvy students and small business owners means each has something to learn from the other,” said Eric Noyes, director of The Generator.
Students working with companies
October’s AI Innovators Bootcamp was full of tension. Hogan had been using ChatGPT for a while, but during bootcamp he was shown a chatbot application that he wasn’t aware of. Like many people, he is grappling with what AI means for his industry. “We’re trying to stay ahead of our competitors,” Hogan said.
Another bootcamp participant, Jason Abelowitz MBA’14, echoed similar sentiments. Mr. Abelowitz is co-founder and chief operating officer of Mindoro Capital Partners, a Boston-based asset management firm. “We realized that if we don’t get the training and integrate it into our company, we’re going to fall behind,” Abelowitz said.
The October boot camp included a variety of small businesses, including real estate agencies, luxury rental companies, financial services companies, staffing agencies, and indoor golf entertainment centers, as well as several nonprofit organizations.
“The biggest thing I learned is not to be afraid of what you don’t know.”
Iain Ward, Founder and CEO of Solar Agriculture Services and AI Innovators Bootcamp participant
“We have seasoned business owners who know their business but don’t know about AI,” said Noyce, associate professor of entrepreneurship and Michael London ’92 and Stephen H. Kramer ’92 Term Chair in Entrepreneurship.
For the boot camp, Noyce partnered with Babson professors (Ruth Gilleran and Jonathan Sims) and more than a dozen Babson bakery students, who volunteered their time to assist participating small businesses and answer their questions.
That interaction builds relationships and provides students with valuable experience. The last time The Generator offered a bootcamp, 10 participating students received paid internships with participating companies. “We not only teach small businesses about AI, but we also connect small businesses with AI-savvy Babson students to solve complex problems together,” said Gavin Mestler ’27, student co-leader of the boot camp.
promote growth
One of the goals of the bootcamp is to demonstrate how AI can drive growth, Noyce said. It’s a way for small businesses to imagine and pursue new opportunities. “We want people to use AI as a tool for innovation to create new products and services,” Noyce said.
At the same time, the bootcamp wants to show how practical and efficient AI can be. At one point during the program, held at Babson’s design and prototyping space, the Wiseman Foundry, students demonstrated core topics where AI tools can make a difference in the day-to-day operations of participants’ businesses.
These specific topics include accelerating marketing with AI, using AI to spend less time stuck in your email inbox, and building custom AI models to speed up employee training. “We try to make their lives easier,” Noyce said. “It’s very specific. We’re not just trying to geek them out.”
In this era of rising AI, the bootcamp program demonstrates Babson’s commitment to small businesses. Noyce spoke in Washington last week at a roundtable on the use of AI by small and medium-sized businesses hosted by JPMorgan Chase Research Institute. In the spring, the university will launch new undergraduate courses focused on the same theme. Students taking the advanced experiential class will also co-run two bootcamps, interview small business owners, and analyze barriers to company growth.
“This builds on Babson’s reputation as a pioneer in experiential education,” Noyes said. “We want our students to have the opportunity to interact with business owners, and we want to give business owners the opportunity to interact with some of the brightest and brightest students.”
don’t be afraid of the unknown
As October’s bootcamp came to a close, small business owners reflected on AI and thought about how overwhelming it can feel and how much there is to learn. One participant wondered what the limits of this technology are. Another marveled at the dizzying number of applications for AI.
“I wanted to know something I didn’t know,” said attendee Ian Ward, founder and CEO of Solar Agricultural Services, a West Wareham, Mass., company that helps promote solar power projects on farmland. Ward admitted that he had never used ChatGPT before attending the bootcamp. “The biggest thing I learned is not to be afraid of what you don’t know,” he says.
Thomas O’Rourke serves as president of the Neponset River Regional Chamber. The Norwood, Massachusetts-based chamber has approximately 450 member companies. O’Rourke attended a bootcamp so he could be a better resource for them when it comes to AI.
“Many of them care about it. For those who don’t, they should,” O’Rourke said. “The AI wave is here. It’s either you get swept away by it or you follow it. Our businesses need to follow it.”
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