Bethanie Nonami did not come to Memphis to warn business owners that artificial intelligence is coming. Her message was more urgent: It is already here.
“Last year, we could dabble. We could play. We could do some things,” Nonami told attendees during a Lunch & Learn keynote at the Mid-South Business Continuum’s 2026 Economic Development Forum. “This year, we can no longer play.”
Nonami, an internationally certified AI consultant and award-winning TEDx speaker, spent the better part of an hour showing them why.
Using several of today’s most popular AI platforms (and some other lesser known ones), Nonami demonstrated how an entrepreneur could start with little more than an idea and use artificial intelligence to clarify a business concept, research a market, develop a strategy, create marketing materials and even build a website.
And when the session was over, she put a QR code on the screen offering attendees access to additional training, prompts and an AI fluency certification.
It was both a lesson and a challenge: If business owners have been waiting to figure out whether AI matters to them, Nonami argued, that decision has largely been made for them.
“AI’s not coming for your job,” she said. “It’s coming for your value.”
The human part matters more
For all the conversation about learning ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and other platforms, Nonami said the most valuable AI skills may have relatively little to do with technology — the skills that a machine can’t duplicate.
Judgment. Communication. Critical thinking. Empathy. Experience. Knowing which problem needs solving in the first place. You know, the things that make us human.
“AI is just a tool,” Nonami said. “Is it technology? Yes. But what we have to understand is our judgment, our empathy, our compassion, our perception, our experience. None of that is programmed or exists in AI. But you, with AI — incredibly powerful.”
That distinction matters, she said, because simply learning how to make AI complete tasks provides only incremental value. Writing an email faster is useful. So is producing a better résumé, image or brochure.
But as the technology makes execution easier, Nonami said the greater opportunity lies in using AI to make better decisions and produce better business outcomes.
“Humans who can guide AI toward better outcomes are those that are being recognized and rewarded,” she said.
So where do you start?
Perhaps the most useful part of Nonami’s presentation for an entrepreneur intimidated by AI was also the simplest: Start with something you already know. “You don’t have to know the thing before you use the thing,” she said.
Nonami began her demonstration in ChatGPT with questions for business owners about their own gifts, abilities and experience.
“What do people always come to me to do?” she asked, challenging the audience to ask of themselves.
From there, she showed how a business owner could give an AI platform basic information about what they do and ask it to serve as a “brand strategist and thought partner” — helping identify a value proposition, potential customers and what makes the business different.
Someone wanting to experiment could start with something as simple as:
I run a business that does (describe what you do). I help (describe your customers) accomplish (describe the result). Act as my brand strategist and thought partner. Ask me questions about my strengths, customers and goals, then help me develop a clear value proposition and explain what makes my business different.
Don’t know how to write the perfect prompt? Nonami said that is not a reason to stop.
“I can literally go in there and say, ‘I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to use this. What do I do? What can you help me with?’” she said. Don’t like to type? Tap the mic button. “You can just ramble and AI can figure it out,” she said.
The important part is not accepting whatever the machine produces as the final word.
“You ultimately decide,” Nonami said. “That’s called ‘human in the loop.’”
Different tools for different tasks
Nonami also discouraged business owners from thinking AI begins and ends with one chatbot.
During the demonstration, she used ChatGPT to help brainstorm and define a business concept, then moved the information into Google Gemini for deeper market research. From there she used Claude to develop strategy.
She loaded the resulting material into Google’s NotebookLM, which can work from a collection of source material to generate summaries, audio, presentations and other content. She demonstrated Lovable, which can build websites and applications from plain-language instructions, and Marblism, a platform offering AI “employees” for functions such as scheduling, social media, lead generation and answering calls.
The point wasn’t about memorizing six products, but understanding that different tools can be useful for different jobs, and that entrepreneurs should not become dependent on only one.
“Sometimes ChatGPT is fire, sometimes Claude is better, sometimes Perplexity is good, sometimes Gemini is better,” Nonami said. “It just depends.”
Learning as you go
Nonami’s point wasn’t that entrepreneurs need to master every platform. They need enough confidence to start using them, while continuing to question what the technology produces.
“The number one skill you need to have with AI right now is confidence, even if you don’t think you know all the things,” she said.
Nonami reminded attendees that companies, consultants and technology firms are themselves experimenting with AI as the tools continue to evolve. That makes human judgment even more important, she said — deciding what makes sense, verifying the information and remaining accountable for the result.
“AI fluency is basically your ability to think, decide and lead confidently alongside AI,” she said.
