AI for individuals and small businesses

For a few years now, I've been hearing two kinds of comments about AI from people around me and at the workshop. On one side: "It's revolutionary, it's going to change everything." On the other: "I tried it, it talks rubbish, it's useless." The reality is somewhere in between, and most of all, it depends entirely on how you use it.

This guide isn't theoretical. It's a list of concrete use cases I've tested myself or that customers have described to me. For individuals first, then for small businesses.

For individuals: 8 uses that really change daily life#

1. Writing difficult emails#

This is the number one use that on its own justifies getting started. You have to write to your landlord to claim a deposit back? Draft a formal demand letter? Send an email to your insurance company without sounding aggressive but staying firm?

Describe the situation to Claude or ChatGPT in a few lines and ask them to draft a clear email, polite but assertive. The result is often better than what you would have written yourself under the stress of the situation, and it takes 30 seconds.

Example prompt: "My landlord hasn't returned my deposit in 3 months even though the move-out inspection was clean. Draft a firm but polite email demanding repayment, mentioning the legal time limits."

2. Summarising long documents#

A 40-page insurance contract, terms and conditions, a medical report, an administrative document in incomprehensible jargon, copy the text (or upload the PDF) and ask: "Summarise the key points" or "What are the important clauses I absolutely must read?"

3. Planning a trip#

Ask for a tailor-made itinerary: "I'm going to Lisbon for 5 days in April with my wife, we love architecture and local food but not tourist restaurants, mid-range budget. Suggest a day-by-day programme with authentic restaurants."

The result isn't perfect, double-check addresses and opening hours before you leave, but it's an excellent starting point that saves you hours of searching on TripAdvisor.

4. Cooking help and recipes#

"I've got in my fridge: carrots, coconut milk, ginger, chicken. Suggest a simple recipe for two people, prep under 30 minutes." This is a use case lots of people love. AI is good at it, and it adapts quantities, suggests substitutes if you're missing an ingredient, and takes dietary restrictions into account.

5. Learning something quickly#

AI is a patient tutor, available 24/7. Want to understand how your pension statement works? Learn the basics of accounting to run your micro-business? Understand a medical diagnostic? Ask the question and ask for a simple explanation, as if you were talking to a knowledgeable friend.

The advantage over a Google search: you can ask follow-up questions. "I didn't understand the part about pension points, can you re-explain it differently?"

6. Admin and paperwork help#

"I've had a letter from the CAF asking me to prove my income. What do I need to provide and how should I word my reply?" or "How do I contest a parking ticket?"

AI doesn't replace a lawyer or a legal adviser, but it can help you understand your rights, identify the steps to follow, and draft initial drafts.

7. Correcting and improving your writing#

You've written a CV, a cover letter, a property listing description? Paste the text and ask: "Improve this text to make it more impactful, keeping my style. Correct mistakes." Result in 10 seconds.

8. Explaining a bill or technical document#

"Here's my phone bill, why am I paying €3.50 in 'admin fees' that weren't in my original contract?" or "My energy bill mentions network charges and various taxes, what is that?" AI explains clearly what companies prefer you didn't understand.

9. Diagnosing a fault before calling a technician#

If your PC shows a strange error message, if your phone behaves oddly, or if a home appliance gives you a fault code, describe exactly what you see to ChatGPT or Claude (the exact error text, your device model, what happened just before). You often get a useful lead that tells you whether the problem is serious or harmless, or whether a simple fix will sort it out.

It's a filter before a technician's visit, not a replacement. But it can save you a call-out for a problem you can handle yourself.

10. Automating repetitive tasks#

For those who are reasonably comfortable with computers: AI can help you write small scripts to automate repetitive tasks, renaming hundreds of files at once, sorting photos by date, copying folders by specific rules. Describe what you want to do in plain language, the AI writes the script for you to run.

11. Creating or improving a website#

You have a website project for your business or an association? AI can help you structure the pages, write the copy, or generate HTML/CSS code if you want a personalised result. It doesn't replace a developer for a complex project, but for a simple presentation page, it can do the job.

Your first 5 AI uses in 30 minutes#

If you've never really used AI, here's how to get started concretely, not in theory, but by doing.

1. 1
   Create a free account on claude.ai (no credit card required). Take 2 minutes for this, it's your entry point.
2. 2
   Think of an email you have to write but have been putting off for a few days. Describe the situation to Claude in 3 lines and ask it to draft the email. Send it after re-reading.
3. 3
   Take a document you haven't had the courage to read in full, a contract, a notice, terms and conditions. Copy and paste the text and ask: 'Summarise the key points in 5 bullets'. See what it gives you.
4. 4
   Ask a question you'd normally Google, but ask for a real explanation: 'Explain how monthly tax payments work, simply'. Compare with what Google would have given you.
5. 5
   Come back with another real need when the occasion arises. No need to force it, use the tool when it's useful, and you'll quickly see which tasks it really saves you time on.

For small businesses: 6 concrete and profitable uses#

1. Writing product descriptions and sales sheets#

It's time-consuming, repetitive, and often poorly done, AI excels here. Give it the features of your product or service and ask for an optimised product sheet, oriented towards customer benefits rather than technical specifications. "Write a 150-word description for this iPhone repair service, professional but accessible tone, for a website."

2. Replying to customer reviews#

Replies to Google or Trustpilot reviews matter for your image, and they take time. "Write a professional, warm reply to this 5-star review: [paste the review]" or "This negative review is unfair but the customer is angry, help me write a calm, empathetic response that puts the facts in context."

3. Creating content for social media#

Regular, varied, engaging, hard to keep up on your own. Ask the AI to generate 10 post ideas for your business, then to write the texts. "I'm an artisan carpenter in Poitiers. Generate 5 Instagram post ideas that showcase my craft without sounding salesy."

4. Writing quotes and professional emails#

I do this myself at the workshop for complex quotes or technical explanations to non-specialist customers. AI helps to structure, simplify, and make the document more professional, without wasting time on form when the substance is already clear in your head.

5. Help with accounting and tax understanding#

Not to replace your accountant, but to understand what they're telling you. "What's VAT on debits vs on receipts? Which is better for a service micro-business?" or "How does the micro-BIC regime work and what are its current thresholds?"

AI is excellent at explanations. Always check with your accountant before making a tax decision.

6. Contract and T&Cs analysis#

Before signing a supplier contract or supplier T&Cs, paste the text into Claude and ask: "Identify the unfavourable clauses, the commitments I need to watch, and what deserves negotiation." You don't need a lawyer for this first read.

Mistral: the French AI to know#

Among the available tools, Mistral deserves a special mention, it's a French company founded in Paris in 2023, with open-source models and commercial offerings.

Why mention it? Because the question of data sovereignty is legitimate, especially for businesses. Mistral offers strong models (including Mistral Large in 2026), hosted in Europe, with more direct GDPR guarantees than the American players. The Mistral Le Chat model is available free at lechat.mistral.ai and gives very good results for writing in French, which isn't surprising for an AI built by a French team.

For small businesses handling customer data or sensitive information, Mistral is a serious alternative to consider.

Claude vs ChatGPT vs Mistral: which to choose for your profile?#

A quick comparison for individuals and freelancers who want to choose without getting lost in technical detail.

A word on environmental impact#

These tools consume energy, far more than a classic Google search. The datacentres running AI models have a real electrical footprint. That's not a reason not to use them, but it's useful information: better to keep them for tasks where they bring a real benefit, rather than reaching for them reflexively for every trivial question.

What AI can't do (and it matters)#

Hallucinations: when AI makes things up#

This is problem number one. AI can produce false information with absolute confidence. It can invent quotes, laws that don't exist, made-up statistics, or incorrect product names. This phenomenon is called a hallucination.

Golden rule: never publish or rely on important information without verifying it independently. For dates, numbers, quotes, legal references, always check in a primary source.

What it doesn't understand#

• Very specific local situations (it doesn't know your neighbourhood, your town, your local providers)
• The deep emotional context of a complex human situation
• The latest news (except Gemini with web access)
• Your personal situation and its full history (it has no memory between sessions, unless you configure it)

Privacy#

When you use a free AI, your conversations may contribute to training the model under default settings. For business information, customer data, or anything confidential:

• Use the privacy settings to disable the use of your data
• Or use enterprise solutions (ChatGPT Enterprise, Claude for Work) which have contractual confidentiality commitments
• Or Mistral, hosted in Europe with European GDPR guarantees

How to get started concretely, for free#

1. Create an account on claude.ai (free version, no credit card), that's my first recommendation for writing and documents
2. Create an account on chat.openai.com (free ChatGPT), useful for images with DALL·E and for code
3. Try lechat.mistral.ai if you prefer a French solution, free, competent in French
4. Start with a real need you have today, a difficult email to write, a document to summarise, not with theoretical exploration

The learning curve is short. In an hour, you'll have figured out whether the tool suits you, and what for.

In summary#

AI isn't magic. It doesn't think, doesn't really understand, and can be wrong. But used properly, for writing, summarising, drafting, explaining, it saves a lot of time.

If you have questions about how to fit these tools into your workflow, or just want to understand where to start, don't hesitate to pop into the workshop. This is the kind of conversation I enjoy.

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Frequently asked questions#