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10 Worcester Business Journal | January 26, 2026 | wbjournal.com FOCUS A R T I F I C I A L I N T E L L I G E N C E Experts say it's not as complicated, nor as scary, as it may seem BY MICA KANNER-MASCOLO WBJ Staff Writer I t's official: Most U.S. businesses use artificial intelligence. In 2023, 55% of businesses reported using AI. By 2024, that figure had surged to 78%, accord- ing to Stanford University's Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelli- gence. "You can just scream at the wind if you want, but it's here," said Julia Becker Collins, chief operating officer North- borough-based marketing firm Vision. With the rise of new AI platforms, Becker Collins and her peers have seen some businesses hesitant to implement the tool into their operations. Some think the rise in AI is equivalent to doomsday, said Kham Inthirath, CEO of Com- pound Effect, a Boston-based AI solutions consult- ing firm. Others worry it's going to replace their jobs or the technology is just too complex to tackle, said Michelle Fuller, managing director of strategy & oper- ations, senior wealth advisor at Bar- tholomew & Co., a Worcester-based financial services provider. But in truth, simple ways of using AI in daily business opera- tions don't equate to personnel cuts or apocalyptic col- lapse, but instead, save businesses time and money. "If you're not leveraging this tool, you'll be spending time doing things that a machine can do as opposed to where a human can add value," said Fuller. Here are five ways you can implement AI into your business operations today, with little to no training. 1. Use AI notetaking Hand over notetaking to an AI scribe, letting em- ployees stay more present during meetings and interviews. With dozens of tools to choose from, such as Otter.ai and tl;dv, AI scribes will record, transcribe, summarize, and offer next steps to review. As a board member of Worcester's League of Women Voters, Becker Collins uses Fathom AI during organization meetings so she can stay engaged in conversations, without the distraction of writing down who said what. "When I think about AI, and the way that it can be used really, really well in business, it's … what requires the least Julia Becker Collins, chief operating officer of Vision ADOBE STOCK | CRE-AI-TOR (GENERATED WITH AI) Five ways your business can start using AI today Kham Inthirath, CEO of Compound Effect Michelle Fuller, managing director of strategy & operations, senior wealth advisor at Bartholomew & Co.