Goldman Sachs is putting $500M into the next phase of its 10,000 Small Businesses programme, including a new AI institute built with Anthropic, Google, Meta and OpenAI. At the launch, its chief executive said there is very little that needs the frontier models those partners build.
David Solomon spoke at the bank’s New York headquarters on Thursday, Nick Lichtenberg reported for Fortune, which was in the audience.
“Frontier models and how frontier models develop is going to be a very, very interesting thing. But there’s very little that we do where we need frontier models.” David Solomon, Goldman Sachs, as reported by Fortune
Solomon said frontier models matter for cybersecurity, defence and health care, such as drug discovery. Those debates are “really separate from using the base tools that exist to support your businesses”, he said. In Europe, AI leaders are arguing over whether the continent should even build frontier models.
What the money pays for
The $500M will fund education, access to capital and support for another 10,000 businesses, Goldman said in its announcement. The new Small Business AI Institute will teach owners about AI, publish research on how they use it, and use AI to widen access to capital.
Each partner brings its own piece. Anthropic will run a learning series, hands-on workshops for alumni and joint research. Google will offer its Grow with Google AI Professional certificate to almost 20,000 owners and employees, with three months of Google AI Pro at no cost. Meta will provide tools and training through Muse for Small Business. OpenAI will hold workshops with the programme’s community college partners.
Nearly 20,000 entrepreneurs have completed the programme since it started in 2010, under an earlier $1.25bn commitment.
‘Get it right, not quicker’
Solomon’s advice to owners was to take their time, according to Fortune.
“At the moment, this is an expensive technology. I don’t think that you have to look at the world and say, ‘I’ve got to be the best at this; I have to have this figured out in the next three weeks.’” David Solomon
He said the return should come from productivity in areas such as sales, customer experience, manufacturing and procurement. Goldman’s own chief information officer, Marco Argenti, has said AI turns developers into managers of their own AI agents.
What owners spend
A Goldman report released with the announcement shows most owners spending little so far. Babson College surveyed programme alumni in August and received 2,473 responses. Goldman says they may not represent all alumni.
Of those owners, 86% use AI in their business, up from 56% in 2024. Among AI users, 73% spend less than $100 a month, and 16% use only free tools. Only 18% use agentic AI, and 15% say it is fully built into their core operations. Of the owners using AI, 84% report no change to their workforce because of it.