BizChat: Scaffolding AI-Powered Business Planning for Small Business Owners Across Digital Skill Levels

2025-05-13

AI Summary

Small business owners face significant barriers in leveraging generative AI (e.g., ChatGPT) for business planning due to deficits in foundational digital competencies—such as keyboard proficiency, file management, and browser navigation. To address this digital divide, we propose an AI-driven business plan authoring tool specifically designed for digitally disadvantaged users. Our approach adopts a “low-floor, high-ceiling” LLM application architecture and introduces a novel design paradigm: embedding entrepreneurship education directly into the interaction workflow, with business activities serving as cognitive anchors to facilitate technology appropriation. The system integrates contextualized UI, lightweight client-side browser interactions, progressive onboarding, and just-in-time microlearning. In a field study with 15 small business owners, the tool significantly improved business plan completion rates and perceived quality, effectively narrowing the generative AI adoption gap among digitally underserved populations.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: AI for Accessibility
• Natural Language Processing: Code Generation / Program Synthesis from Natural Language
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Planning with Language Models

Application Category

• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Economic ramifications for generative AI infrastructure and applications
• Social Networks and Social Media: Generative AI / large language models and their impact on social systems
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Applied ML and AI for Web-based mobile applications

Abstract

Generative AI can help small business owners automate tasks, increase efficiency, and improve their bottom line. However, despite the seemingly intuitive design of systems like ChatGPT, significant barriers remain for those less comfortable with technology. To address these disparities, prior work highlights accessory skills -- beyond prompt engineering -- users must master to successfully adopt generative AI including keyboard shortcuts, editing skills, file conversions, and browser literacy. Building on a design workshop series and 15 interviews with small businesses, we introduce BizChat, a large language model (LLM)-powered web application that helps business owners across digital skills levels write their business plan -- an essential but often neglected document. To do so, BizChat's interface embodies three design considerations inspired by learning sciences: ensuring accessibility to users with less digital skills while maintaining extensibility to power users ("low-floor-high-ceiling"), providing in situ micro-learning to support entrepreneurial education ("just-in-time learning"), and framing interaction around business activities ("contextualized technology introduction"). We conclude with plans for a future BizChat deployment.

Problem

• Addressing digital skill gaps in small business AI adoption
• Designing accessible LLM tools for business plan creation
• Integrating micro-learning for entrepreneurial education support

Innovation

• LLM-powered web app for business planning
• Low-floor-high-ceiling interface design
• Just-in-time micro-learning integration