But according to two leaders driving AI integration for small businesses — Itai Sadan, co-founder and CEO of Duda, and Louis Gutierrez, AI director at Constant Contact — the reality is more nuanced. While enthusiasm for AI-driven automation is soaring, the majority of SMBs aren’t yet equipped to handle the complexities that come with deploying AI effectively.

Expectations vs. Reality

At Duda, which supports over a million small business websites, nearly 45% of newly created sites now leverage at least one AI assistant, Sadan shared. Whether it’s generating content or optimizing for search engines, adoption is accelerating fast.

“We’re witnessing massive adoption, particularly in areas like automatic image alt text and SEO automation,” Sadan explained. “Tasks that once took hours can now be completed in minutes with just one click.”

Constant Contact is observing a similar trend. Gutierrez pointed out that many of their SMB clients are “achieving more with fewer resources” — juggling multiple roles, simplifying content creation, and using AI to deliver personalized messaging at scale.

“AI enables scaling, yes,” Gutierrez said, “but more importantly, it frees up time so owners can focus on what truly drives them, offloading the repetitive tasks.”

Yet these efficiencies are raising the bar for customer experience. As AI makes marketing faster and easier, consumers now demand hyper-personalization, quicker responses, and flawless service. The expectation for small businesses to operate like large corporations — but without the infrastructure — is intensifying rapidly.

The Hidden Need for Infrastructure

While AI may seem like magic on the surface, the systems behind it are anything but. Gutierrez, who also teaches a course on explainable AI at UT Austin, compared AI models to perishable items.

“Think of AI models like canned goods,” he said. “They have a shelf life, even if it’s not labeled. Performance declines over time. Without systems to retrain, update, or swap them out, you’re operating in the dark.”

That’s why Constant Contact’s biggest investment in AI isn’t a flashy new feature — it’s the backend. From pipelines for fine-tuning models to tools that detect performance drift, the company is building resilience to adapt no matter how quickly the AI landscape evolves.

Sadan stresses the same priority. Duda recently launched MCP-powered AI copilots that let users build, modify, and manage websites through natural language commands. In practice, this means speaking to the platform like a colleague — asking it to revise text, adjust design, or add functionality using everyday language. Behind the scenes, this relies on a complex chain of API integrations, model queries, and logical workflows.

“These are true agent-like systems,” Sadan noted. “But without solid data models, APIs, and schema alignment, the entire system collapses. AI can’t compensate for weak foundations.”

Governance Is No Longer a Choice

Despite powerful front-end features, both leaders caution that AI without governance is a ticking time bomb — especially for small teams with little oversight.

“Eventually, someone will input sensitive customer data into a public AI chatbot,” Sadan warned. “Not out of negligence, but because there’s no clear policy.”

Gutierrez agrees, which is why Constant Contact formed an internal AI governance board to assess tools for ethics, data privacy, security, and consistency. The issue, he emphasized, isn’t just whether the AI works — it’s what happens when it fails or produces biased outputs.

“Everything runs smoothly in a test environment,” he said. “But the moment a model goes live, it behaves in unpredictable ways. That’s when governance becomes critical.”

Without proper controls, businesses risk data breaches, inflated claims about capabilities, or embedding bias into customer tools. And while governance might sound like a concern for big enterprises, both executives insist it’s essential for small businesses too.

The Emerging SEO Battlefield

One of the most under-the-radar shifts in SMB AI use is how customers discover products and services. While Google remains dominant, Sadan noted that traffic from AI-generated responses — like those in ChatGPT — is “rising at an explosive rate.”

Duda is positioning itself for this change. Beyond automating traditional SEO, the company is developing AI discoverability tools designed to help websites rank in the context of how large language models (LLMs) process and retrieve information. By optimizing FAQ structures and product metadata, the goal is to appear in AI-powered results, not just search engine pages.

“This is reminiscent of the early Facebook era for businesses,” Sadan said. “Those who adapt early can outpace competitors — and do it affordably.”

Gutierrez is tracking another transformation: vibe coding — the ability to create full applications using natural language. “It’s turning non-developers into full-stack builders,” he said. “In a few years, any small business could design their own CRM or booking system just by describing what they need.”

Using AI Wisely

Both executives agree: AI won’t displace small businesses, but misusing it could. Gutierrez criticized the common tendency to oversell AI’s capabilities. “I sit in meetings every week,” he said. “Too many vendors sell AI as an all-in-one miracle solution. That’s misleading and risky.”

Sadan echoed the concern, noting that the biggest error SMBs make is adopting AI tools without measuring real impact. “Test it,” he advised. “If it doesn’t save you time or improve your output, it’s not worth it — regardless of the hype.”

What’s often left out of AI success stories is discipline. Simply using AI isn’t enough. You need to know its strengths, its limits, and how to build systems around them. That means investing in infrastructure, enforcing governance, and preparing for a future where AI-driven discovery and interaction determine who succeeds — and who gets left behind.

As Gutierrez put it: “Adding AI to your toolkit doesn’t guarantee victory. Winning comes from building a business that knows how to use it well.”

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