Anthropic is expanding its focus on small businesses as it looks to drive wider adoption of Claude beyond its existing corporate and coding customers.
The AI company launched Claude for Small Business in May, a tool designed to help smaller companies use AI across a range of business functions. Since launch, Anthropic says the tool has reached 900,000 installations, with the company now planning a series of workshops and training programmes to accelerate adoption.
Small businesses represent a significant opportunity for Anthropic as it prepares for its initial public offering. In the US, they employ more than 45% of private-sector workers and account for around 44% of the country’s GDP, according to data from the US Small Business Administration. The proportion of small businesses using generative AI has also increased from 23% in 2023 to 58% in 2025, according to a survey by the US Chamber of Commerce.
Unlike Anthropic’s coding customers, small businesses typically operate with smaller budgets and have different requirements when it comes to adopting AI. Business owners are facing growing pressure to use the technology while also dealing with concerns from customers about its impact and authenticity.
Claude for Small Business is designed to handle a range of tasks, including reconciling finances through a company’s QuickBooks account. Anthropic has also added new plugins from companies including Shopify, Stripe and Zoom. Lina Ochman, Anthropic’s head of US small and medium businesses, described the offering as an “agentic starter pack”.
Anthropic is now expanding its approach through a network of workshops and trained representatives designed to help small and medium-sized businesses understand how AI can be used in their operations.
The company held its first sessions in San Francisco and New York last week, training participants to become “Approved Claude SMB Trainers”. Those taking part must commit to hosting five workshops for small and medium-sized businesses by the end of the year.
Anthropic’s approach comes as AI companies increasingly compete for adoption among smaller businesses. OpenAI also launched a programme for small businesses this year as the two companies look to expand beyond large corporate customers.
Ochman has been travelling across the US to promote Claude’s potential for small businesses, visiting cities including Chicago, Baton Rouge and San Jose. Around 100 business owners attended each of the half-day workshops.
She said most of the businesses she spoke to were using AI primarily as a conversational tool rather than allowing it to automate large parts of their operations. Business owners raised concerns around accuracy, security and where to begin when introducing AI into their businesses.
Some businesses have also faced criticism from customers over their use of AI.
Steve Zumoff, who runs Pittsburgh tiki bar Spork Island Trading Co., said he received several one-star reviews on the bar’s Google page after posting an AI-designed sign outside the business. He said he expects customers to become more comfortable with AI over time and has used ChatGPT to help with the interior design of the bar.
“I have a bag of tools with an electric drill, and that’s taken away a job from a carpenter, probably,” Zumoff said. “I need to research something, I use Google; that takes a job away from a librarian.”
A coffee shop owner previously told Business Insider she had also received criticism on social media after using ChatGPT to create a menu poster.
Monz Islam, director of the café Zenchai in Fleet in the UK, posted on the café’s Instagram that it would not use generative AI to create posters. He said the decision followed complaints from younger customers about AI-generated artwork being used by other cafés.
Islam said customers viewed human-made designs as more “authentic”, even when tools such as Canva were used to create them.
Ochman said Anthropic does not encourage businesses to use Claude for functions such as banking and legal work.
“Claude will get you 95% of the way there, but the human and the expert stays in the loop,” she said.
Anthropic is also building a network of people who can promote and educate businesses on Claude’s uses. The company will run more workshops itself, promote sessions held by partners and continue its programme to train people to deliver AI education to small businesses.
Kelsey Flood, chief programme officer at California workplace training nonprofit Digital NEST, attended Anthropic’s San Francisco session and said she plans to run AI literacy workshops for nonprofits, small businesses and students.
Flood said the sessions should remain independent of any particular AI model, but that AI companies need to build relationships with smaller businesses given the diversity of their needs.
“The only way I think for Anthropic to be able to do that at scale is to partner,” Flood said.
Ochman said the company’s goal is to make more small businesses comfortable using AI, even if they ultimately choose another provider. She adds: “If they end up choosing somebody else first, that’s OK for me, because a rising tide lifts all ships.”
