What Is Generative AI? (A Plain-English Guide for British Business Owners)

By Ross Deane, AI Sidekick

If you’ve spent any time on LinkedIn lately, you’ve probably seen terms like “Generative AI” and “LLMs” thrown around like confetti. And if you’re anything like most business owners I speak to, you might be thinking, Sounds clever—but what’s it actually mean for me?

Let’s cut through the waffle and break it down..

So, what is Generative AI?

In simple terms, Generative AI is software that creates stuff—text, images, code, even videos. The "generative" bit means it can produce new content, rather than just analysing what already exists.

The most well-known example? ChatGPT. It’s a type of Large Language Model (LLM), which just means it’s been trained on a lot of text—from books, websites, emails, you name it. All of that info helps it predict what words usually come next in a sentence.

It doesn’t think in the way people do. It’s more like a glorified autocomplete that’s surprisingly good at mimicking human language.

And how does it actually work?

Here’s a rough example (and don’t worry, no maths or code in sight):

• You give it a prompt—like “Write me a polite response to this customer” or “Summarise this email”.
• It looks at patterns it’s seen in the past and generates a response based on those.
• It adjusts based on the style, tone, and format it’s learned from all that training data.

It’s not perfect, and it’s certainly not infallible—but when it works well, it feels like having a very fast assistant who never sleeps and doesn’t charge overtime.

Why does it matter for small businesses?

Because for the first time, tools like this are affordable and accessible. You don’t need a tech department to benefit. Whether it’s writing newsletters, responding to enquiries, or generating social content, AI can handle the boring bits and give you a bit of headspace.

The trick is knowing how to use it properly—and making sure it fits into your day-to-day in a way that’s actually helpful.

Do I need to understand it all?

Not really. Just like you don’t need to know how your boiler works to enjoy hot water, you don’t need to be an AI expert to benefit from it.

Hopefully this gave you a clearer picture of what all the fuss is about. But if it still feels a bit abstract or techy—don’t stress. That’s what we’re here for.

You bring the business know-how. We’ll handle the AI bit.