ChatGPT has revolutionised the operation of UK small businesses.
If you’re a small business owner, chances are you’ve heard of ChatGPT by now. You might have even tried it out yourself. But beyond the buzzwords and headlines, there are plenty of lesser-known features, quirks, and capabilities that could make a real difference to how you run your business and improve your small business marketing.
There are also a few pitfalls that must be taken into account.
New research from St Andrews Business School shows that small and medium-sized businesses using AI tools can boost productivity by 27% to 133%. The biggest gains are seen in lower-productivity firms, especially in sectors like catering and hospitality. The findings are based on analysis of the UK government’s survey of 10,000 SMEs.
Whether you’re a product or service-based business, this blog gives you an easy-to-understand, jargon-free look at what ChatGPT really can (and can’t) do for you, as a UK business owner looking for efficient ways to save time and grow.
Here are 13 ChatGPT facts designed to bring you up to speed with the basics, as well as some tips that might just change the way you think about AI tools.
The Background Info
1. ChatGPT Was Invented by OpenAI and Launched in 2022 (Good To Get Some Background About This Tool Everyone Has Been Talking About).
While OpenAI has been working on AI models for years, ChatGPT (as we know it today) became publicly available in late 2022.
Within five days, it reached a million users. It’s now being used across the world by everyone from students and teachers to marketers and mechanics. As of 2025, it’s still evolving quickly, making it a tool worth understanding for anyone in the small business sector.
2. What Is ChatGPT?
It might sound like something from Transformers, but GPT is simply a technical name. Here’s a breakdown:
- Generative: It creates content
- Pre-trained: It was trained on a huge amount of data before being released
- Transformer: This is the AI architecture that powers how it understands and responds to language
In short, it reads, learns, and generates. It’s an advanced AI chatbot designed to understand and generate text that sounds natural and human. Unlike regular search engines that fetch results directly from the web, ChatGPT responds using its own “knowledge”—a language model trained on a vast mix of books, articles, and websites. You can think of it as a sophisticated chatbot that engages in dialogue to provide answers and help.
You can basically ask it questions, or ask it to do things for you, and it responds or actions requests in record speed.
It can boost productivity by supporting a wide range of tasks—from writing emails, solving problems to interpreting data.
3. Chat GPT Can Integrate With Other Tools.
AI automation becomes powerful when you connect it with your existing tools. This can help UK small businesses simplify their operations without disrupting their proven workflows.
Integrations can connect OpenAI’s ChatGPT with your business apps through software. These integrations let apps “communicate” with each other for optimised productivity and results.
Integrating ChatGPT with a small business admin tool like QuickBooks or Notion can streamline tasks such as invoice generation, expense tracking, and meeting summaries. HR teams can use it to generate personalised onboarding documents or training plans. This streamlines communication, boosts HR efficiency, and enhances the employee experience.
What You Can & Can’t Do With ChatGPT
4. Can ChatGPT Create Images?
If you’re on ChatGPT Plus (the paid version), you can use the built-in DALL•E tool to create images directly within a chat. Just describe what you want to see (“a peaceful market town in spring, watercolour style”), and it will generate visual options.
These are useful for mockups, moodboards, Instagram visuals or email graphics.
Just be careful what you create. As a small business marketing consultant, I love playing with AI tools to get results for my clients. You do get the odd hilarious moment, though, when things don’t quite go as planned.
The photo below came up as an option to show how a stencil from an e-commerce client could be used. This parent is obviously prepared to go to any length to decorate their child’s room 😆
5. ChatGPT Doesn’t Edit Photos (But It Can Walk You Through How To Do That On Other Platforms).
You can’t currently upload a photo and edit it directly within ChatGPT. It won’t crop, retouch, or remove objects like Photoshop does.
But it can help you write clear instructions if you’re using tools like Canva, Adobe Express or Fotor. For example, tell ChatGPT what you want (“I want to blur the background and brighten the subject”), and it can tell you how to do that in your chosen software.
6. Can ChatGPT Create Videos?
Yes and no. Within the ChatGPT chatbox you can’t stitch video clips together. It can:
- Write video scripts
- Suggest B-roll or cutaway ideas
- Generate voiceover scripts
- Offer step-by-step guides for tools like iMovie, CapCut, Canva or Adobe Premiere
However, Sora is an exciting new standalone tool built by OpenAI as a text-to-video model that you can access via ChatGPT. It can generate high-quality short clips (up to ~20 seconds and 1080p) based on your prompts and is available in the US, UK, EU, and a few other countries (including Switzerland, Norway, Iceland) via ChatGPT Plus/Pro.
It’s included with ChatGPT Plus (limited) and Pro plans—no extra cost beyond your ChatGPT subscription.
Sora can also help you produce incredibly creative images (see the fun, small business marketing superhero film poster I created, shown later in the post).
7. You Can Use Your Voice To Talk To ChatGPT .
Using ChatGPT on the mobile app? You can now chat with it using your voice. It’s great if you want to:
- Brainstorm ideas while out on a walk
- Draft emails hands-free
- Find things out whilst you’re on your exercise bike (this is what I tried)
This can add a helpful hands-free option to your digital marketing toolkit.
Whilst this sounds amazing in theory, there can be a glitch to this in practice.
The first time I tried this feature out, ChatGPT transcribed and answered my question…wait for it…in Welsh!!! Whilst I attempted to ask it (in English) about marketing tech tools, I was taken into a Welsh conversation about organisations in Wales. For clarity, I am not Welsh and I do not live in Wales. I was able to fix this by going into settings and changing one of the app language options to English, rather than leaving the option to automatic.
8. It Plays Nicely with Canva.
If you use Canva (and many UK small businesses do), you’ll be glad to know you can connect ChatGPT-generated content to your Canva designs.
Here’s how:
- Ask ChatGPT to write content for a flyer, presentation or social post
- Copy/paste into Canva
- OR use Canva’s built-in AI writing assistant (which is also powered by a version of ChatGPT!)
It’s a fast-track way to go from idea to final design, especially if you’re doing your own branding or marketing as a solopreneur or micro business owner.
A small word of warning, here though. Canva is an incredible tool but if, as a small business owner, you’re not too sure how to use it, what you think looks good, could end up looking unprofessional, inconsistent and off-brand to your customers.
Things To Remember About ChatGPT
9. ChatGPT Images Are Royalty-Free (With a Few Caveats).
If you’re using ChatGPT with image generation capabilities (like through DALL•E), the images you create can sometimes be royalty-free. That means you can use them for commercial purposes, like on your website or social media. However, you should:
- Avoid using celebrity likenesses or brand logos
- Remember that AI sometimes mimics existing styles
- Keep your own brand identity in mind, don’t rely solely on AI art to represent your business.
As a marketing consultant, I would urge caution here. ChatGPT sometimes uses inspiration from other sites, such as Pinterest, and outputs may contain copyrighted material. Users may be liable if they reproduce such material.
It’s sometimes a good idea to double-check images by uploading them onto Google Lens, to see if they’ve been taken from anywhere else on the internet that might lead to copyright problems.
10. ChatGPT and GDPR: What You Need to Know.
If you’re using ChatGPT in your business, GDPR compliance matters. While ChatGPT doesn’t store your business data after your session ends, you are still responsible for how you handle any customer data.
Tips:
- Don’t input sensitive personal data
- Avoid copying/pasting private customer info
- Treat it as a creative assistant, not a data processor
Always check your own privacy policies before using AI tools in workflows that involve real people’s data.
Data security requires proper protocols – Use enterprise plans for sensitive data, remove personal information from inputs, and maintain UK GDPR compliance through careful data handling practices.
11. It Doesn’t Lie, But It Might Be Wrong (Something You Need To Watch Out For).
ChatGPT doesn’t deliberately make stuff up. But sometimes, if it doesn’t have the right information, it might “fill in the blanks” in ways that sound plausible but aren’t accurate. This is known as a “hallucination” in AI speak. It’s why a quick double-check is always a smart move.
Also, the current version of ChatGPT, powered by GPT-4o, has a knowledge cutoff of October 2023. This means its responses are based on information available up to that date and it may not be aware of anything that happened afterward.
While ChatGPT can access real-time information through tools like web browsing, its core model is trained on a fixed dataset. This is a key difference from traditional search engines, which continually update their results by crawling the web.
Key limitations to watch out for therefore include potential inaccuracies or “hallucinations” in generated content, struggles with nuanced contexts, and a knowledge cutoff that may result in outdated information. Additionally, the tool may lack the specific industry expertise that human professionals possess, making human review and expertise crucial.
12. Is ChatGPT Free?
There is a free version of ChatGPT available (OpenAI offers five subscription plans – Free, Plus, Pro, Team, Enterprise). Performance, features and usage are capped for free ChatGPT users, but many find the free tier more than adequate for their needs. It’s a great starting point to start trialling the tool.
The Future Of ChatGPT
13. ChatGPT Might Soon Be Able to Handle Your Files, Not Just Read Them.
Right now, you can upload files into ChatGPT (like PDFs, spreadsheets, or images), and it’ll help you summarise, analyse or explain them, which is already a huge help.
But what’s coming next is even more exciting: in future updates, ChatGPT is expected to become more interactive with your documents. That means it might be able to:
- Edit or rewrite documents directly inside the chat
- Create custom templates based on your uploaded files
- Help you merge or organise files (e.g. proposals, contracts, reports)
So instead of just reading your stuff, it could actually help you work on it, like a virtual assistant that lives inside your inbox, downloads folder, or project hub.
Perfect if you’re juggling content, admin, or client work and want to cut down on busywork.
This functionality is likely to roll out incrementally across the different plans.
Final Word
If you’re a small business owner in the UK looking for ways to save time, overcome writer’s block and optimise your content, ChatGPT is well worth exploring.
You don’t have to be a digital native to get results. It’s one of the reasons many marketing and business consultants recommend it to their clients.
It’s a brilliant tool – but like any tool, it’s only as effective as the person using it. Without the right marketing strategy, direction or messaging, it can just help you do more of the same, even if that same thing isn’t working. The technology works best when combined with proper strategy and human expertise. While ChatGPT can generate ideas and automate tasks, success requires clear business objectives, precise prompts, the experience to review the information you’re being fed and skilled implementation.
That’s where a marketing consultant comes in. Someone who can help you build a marketing approach and optimise all the tools to actually move the needle. AI can give you ideas. But it takes the right strategy and plan to fully be able to unlock the game-changing results from some of these tools for UK small businesses.
If you’re curious about how I can help you develop and grow your business, with ChatGPT and with other tools and strategies, get in touch by calling on 07448 720859 or dropping me an email at info@smallbusinessmarketingconsultant.co.uk
