OpenAI has released a detailed after-action report for 2025. small business jamwe will explain how to provide practical support from a mentor. A.I. This training helped small business owners in five U.S. cities apply ChatGPT to real-world business challenges.
The findings provide an in-depth look at how AI literacy efforts outside of large enterprises can lead to practical outcomes for companies operating with limited time, staff, and technical support.
From AI concepts to easy-to-use workflows
Small Business Jam is offered through OpenAI Academy, OpenAI's AI literacy and education initiative, and was held in Detroit, Houston, Miami, New York City, and San Francisco. The program brought together hundreds of small business owners, OpenAI staff and partner organizations including DoorDash and SCORE for a full day of hands-on problem solving.
In a LinkedIn post reflecting on the effort, Alex Nawar, who works with OpenAI Academy, wrote that the Jam was designed to understand “how people use AI to solve real-world problems, and what it takes for new tools to lead to real-world outcomes.” He said he spent the day with restaurant owners, consultants and solo founders who were “depleted but ready to build,” noting how quickly ChatGPT helped participants after they anchored the learning in the tasks they already needed to complete.
Rather than focusing on general AI education, sessions were structured around repeatable tasks such as drafting customer communications, managing inventory, planning marketing efforts, and converting unstructured notes into usable systems. Attendees were encouraged to leave with ready-to-reuse workflows, often built during the event itself.
Confidence, time savings, early adoption
Post-event feedback revealed significant short-term impacts. Most participants reported leaving with at least one functional workflow and said they planned to apply what they learned within weeks rather than months. Time savings emerged as the most consistent benefit, especially for owners who wear multiple hats without dedicated operational support.
Several people using AI for the first time say they quickly gain confidence. “This was the most impactful learning experience I've had in years,” said Marcus Belardes, vice president of operations and managing partner of Oren's Hummus in San Francisco. He added, “I came to Jam with no experience in AI, but I've used what I learned almost every day since.” Velardes also noted that these tools are already a time saver: “It's already a time saver, allowing us to create multiple applications in minutes that would have taken hours.”
For many participants, the value of the session was less about advanced features and more about achieving simple, repeatable wins. Turning a blank document into a usable draft or automating a repetitive task is often described as the point at which AI moves from novel to practical.
What expanded throughout the city?
The pattern was consistent across all five locations. Participants made the fastest progress when they started with tasks they had already completed each week, rather than starting with general AI concepts. Peer learning also played a central role, with many owners citing examples shared by other participants as catalysts for faster adoption.
The report positions Small Business Jam as both an educational program and a learning exercise for OpenAI itself. By observing how small business owners apply AI under real-world operational constraints, OpenAI Academy has gleaned insights into how tools should be designed, taught, and supported to deliver value outside of large enterprise environments.
This Jam is also part of OpenAI Academy's broader efforts to expand AI literacy beyond corporate environments, with follow-up virtual skills labs planned to support continued adoption and experimentation.
