eBay and OpenAI have unveiled AI Activate, a £3 million initiative designed to equip up to 10,000 UK small businesses with artificial intelligence capabilities. Participants receive personalised AI training, dedicated support for building custom GPTs, and free ChatGPT Enterprise access for one year—starting with online training in late 2025 before expanding to in-person sessions in 2026.

The programme targets Britain’s 5.5 million SMEs, which account for 99.9% of the UK’s business population, three-fifths of employment, and half of private sector turnover. eBay highlighted that 69% of online businesses feel excited or curious about AI’s potential, yet lack the resources to harness it effectively.

The Tool Availability Paradox

Whilst AI Activate addresses a genuine market need, it also highlights a fundamental challenge facing UK SMEs: access to AI tools doesn’t automatically translate into business value. The gap between having generative AI capabilities and deploying them strategically remains substantial.

eBay’s 10 million sellers have already used the platform’s AI tools to create over 300 million listings, demonstrating that adoption barriers have lowered considerably. However, the launch of this training programme implicitly acknowledges what many business leaders already suspect—using AI and using it well require different forms of support.

From Training to Implementation

Eve Williams, eBay UK General Manager, framed the initiative as democratising AI: “The latest AI tools cannot be the preserve of big business—they should be in the hands of every small business in Britain.” The programme will cover financial analysis, marketing and promotion, inventory management, and customer research applications.

These are sensible starting points for AI experimentation, but they represent only the first phase of effective AI deployment. Understanding what AI can do differs markedly from determining what AI should do for a specific business context, existing processes, and competitive positioning.

Ronnie Chatterji, OpenAI’s Chief Economics Officer, positioned the programme as addressing Britain’s productivity gap: “If we want to close the productivity gap, this is where to start.” Yet productivity improvements depend not merely on tool access but on strategic implementation—understanding which processes benefit from automation, how to validate AI outputs, and when human oversight remains essential.

The Strategic Implementation Challenge

Standardised training programmes like AI Activate serve a valuable purpose: they provide foundational AI literacy and reduce barriers to experimentation. For UK SMEs taking their first steps with generative AI, this represents a low-risk opportunity to explore capabilities and identify potential applications.

However, businesses pursuing competitive advantage through AI typically require more tailored guidance. The difference between educational programmes and strategic consulting lies in specificity—generic training explains what’s possible; expert guidance addresses what’s practical for a particular organisation’s circumstances.

Human Expertise in the AI Era

The AI Activate initiative underscores an important reality: as AI capabilities advance, the demand for human expertise in deploying them strategically intensifies rather than diminishes. Businesses need support understanding not just how AI works, but how it integrates with existing workflows, what change management processes successful adoption requires, and which current AI limitations affect their specific use cases.

For British SMEs, the path forward involves recognising that AI literacy and AI implementation expertise serve complementary but distinct purposes. Foundational training provides context; specialised consulting addresses the nuanced decisions that determine whether AI investment delivers measurable returns.

The eBay-OpenAI partnership democratises access to AI tools and basic training—a positive development for UK small businesses. Whether that access translates into productivity gains and competitive advantage will depend on how effectively businesses bridge the gap between what AI can do and what their organisation needs it to accomplish.

Source: eBay and OpenAI want to train small businesses in getting the most out of AI - TechRadar Pro, 1 October 2025