Goldman Sachs is putting more money behind its effort to help small businesses use artificial intelligence. The bank announced Thursday that it has launched the Small Business AI Institute.
The institute is part of a $500 million expansion of the bank’s 10,000 Small Businesses program. The philanthropic program educates and supports entrepreneurs.
Goldman said it will partner with Google, Anthropic, OpenAI and Meta. The companies will provide AI training and tools to small business owners.
“You’ve got to embrace new technology always, because if you’re not embracing it, trying to figure out how it can make your businesses better, there’s a real chance that you can fall behind,” Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon told NBC News.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also commented in Goldman’s announcement. “We believe AI will create the greatest boom in entrepreneurship and small businesses that the world has ever seen,” he said.
Goldman Sachs and the AI Trade
Goldman is closely tied to the AI boom. The bank’s share price has roughly tripled over the past three years as AI-related companies pushed the stock market to record highs.
The bank helped lead the record-breaking IPO for Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which counts xAI and Grok among its core businesses. Goldman is also reportedly working on the IPO of Anthropic, the startup behind the AI chatbot Claude.
“There is going to be a lot of financing to do,” Solomon said on an earnings call last week. “And we’re going to be in the middle of that.”
Critics in the finance world say AI is an investment bubble that could burst and wipe out companies and jobs. Cracks have also started to form in the AI trade after Big Tech firms drove much of the market’s recent rally.
AI-driven growth has also helped push up prices for Americans. Anger at data centers is one of the few issues where voters from both parties agree, with the midterm elections days away.
Small Businesses Weigh AI
Small businesses make up more than 90% of all U.S. companies and drive most of the nation’s job growth. Goldman and other big firms are counting on them to adopt AI.
Public opinion is mixed. A recent NBC News poll found 79% of respondents believe the government is not doing enough to regulate AI, and 67% disapprove of how President Donald Trump is handling the technology.
Some small businesses have already faced backlash. Restaurants that used AI-generated images of food were criticized by people who called the pictures “slop.”
Still, adoption is rising fast. A Goldman survey this year of more than 2,400 program graduates found 86% were using AI in their businesses, up from 56% in 2024.
Rechelle Balanzat, founder of the laundry services app Juliette, is one of them. “I really treat my AI as my consigliere,” she said, adding that it helps her prepare better questions for her accountant and lawyer.
Mike DiMarino, who heads Linda Tool in Brooklyn, was part of the program’s first class in 2010. His company makes precision machine parts for the military and aerospace industries, and he believes AI can help with planning and management.
Full adoption remains limited, though. Only 15% of the surveyed graduates said they had fully integrated AI into their core operations, according to Goldman.
