Hey everyone, i've been seeing a lot of interest around AI tools lately chatbots, RAG systems (where the AI uses real company data), and even AI receptionists that can greet visitors, answer questions, or handle basic customer requests.
Do people or small businesses actually want these kinds of services right now?
Like:
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An AI that answers questions using your company data or documents
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AI receptionist that handles incoming calls or chats
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Smart automation tools powered by AI
I’m trying to figure out if there’s real demand for this kind of thing or if it’s still mostly early adopters and tech enthusiasts using it.
What do you all think are businesses starting to look for this, or is it still “too futuristic” for most people?
Are people actually interested in AI-powered services (chatbots, RAGs, AI receptionists, etc.)?
byu/New_Breakfast9275 inEntrepreneur
Posted by New_Breakfast9275
13 Comments
these already exist and the market is competitive
I can’t wrap my head around why anyone would need this when we already have search engines. I just don’t get it.
From what I see talking to small businesses, interest in AI services is real but very use-case dependent, people are curious about automated help that saves time or reduces cost but they want clear demos, simple pricing, and reassurance on data handling; the fastest path is to run a short pilot with a handful of customers, show results in measurable terms, and surface compliance details up front so buyers feel safe. If you want to find early adopters, some options like Leado.co, Product Hunt, and targeted outreach on LinkedIn have worked for others to find people already talking about AI pain points.
Have you talked to any small business owners directly to see which part of their workflow they’d actually trust an AI to handle first?
No way. They’re a menace to society, trashing our environment, ruining our economy and our jobs. On top of that, it’s not even production ready! It HALLUCINATES. HEllOOoooOOOOooo. It goes against everything morally right. I always cancel, turn off, “Not interested” at every opportunity.
Customers fucking hate them.
AI so far has been total trash. At first it seemed cool until it became apparent how unreliable it has been at giving proper and correct information. Image generation has been its only real win, and even that it’s becoming tired and played out. I want real people back in service roles.
Yes. There is demand and they are improving. Customers don’t seem to like them but I think as they continue to improve it will just be the way it is.
The market is always looking for solutions to problems. No one gives a flying fuck if its AI or a guy in India or Philippines.
So many people don’t get it. ‘agentic’, ‘RAG’, ‘AI’, every acronym you put on your pitch loses client interest by 25%.
I just want tools to manage my emails easier but I am overwhelmed by choice and I don’t have much time to sit there and trial and error.
Companies want them to reduce costs, but customers loathe them
A ton of the demand for them seems to come from the mouths of AI app saas agent rag sellers. My newsfeed is flooded with success stories from new reddit accounts.
Theres so much noise from sellers it’s difficult to gauge what’s actually true.
I am aware of some very small scale, narrow, niche success stories. Also aware of many that worked well within a laboratory setting and failed miserably in production.
I’m so anti-interested it’s ridiculous. AI has shittified services even more than expected.