Ethical AI Use for Small Business Marketing

AI is here to stay, and if you are a small business owner trying to find your place in the global market, AI tools can make marketing your products or services easier to manage. However, misusing or abusing AI tools can erode your audience’s trust and even lead to legal issues. 

As your partners in digital marketing, Jali Creatives wants you to succeed. Here’s what you need to know about ethical AI use for small businesses:

To Use or Not to Use: The Great AI Debate

Just because AI is everywhere doesn’t mean you have to use it. Many people have moral and ethical reasons for opposing the use of generative AI, including concerns about environmental impact and questions about intellectual property and sourcing. Deciding where you stand on the subject is the first step in determining if and how you will use AI for your business.

If you plan to use generative AI for your marketing efforts, read on. If not, it may be useful to look into ways to protect yourself against AI misuse – especially if you’re posting artwork or other creative property online.

Ethical AI Use for Small Business Marketing: 5 Dos and Don’ts

Generative AI can help streamline the administrative side of running a business so that you can focus on your passions. This can include:

• Helping organize, draft, or refine content to align with your strategy 

• Writing captions, email headers, or improving your calls-to-action

• Helping to create reports or explain complex datasets

• Optimizing your work schedule for better productivity

• Finding niche and tangential marketing opportunities 

Ethical generative AI use isn’t limited to the above examples, but they do highlight the dos and don’ts of appropriate AI use. We’ve outlined them below:

1. DO Avoid Plagiarism: Many generative AI models are trained on online art and writing without the artists' explicit consent. Users can then recreate similar content with minimal effort, which some consider profiting from the work of others without appropriate compensation. Lawsuits have been brought against individuals and businesses for using AI-generated artwork that mimics a distinctive style or replicates a particular art piece on apparel, in marketing campaigns, or in other ways that generate profit.

   
   

2. DON’T Falsely Represent Your Offerings: Photoediting in advertising has long been a hot topic, but some people are using generative AI to create convincing and appealing images and videos of products that don’t exist – or that are of significantly lower quality than advertised. This negatively impacts entire markets and may destroy your business’s reputation.

   
   

3. DO Disclose AI Use When Necessary: Transparency is the key to building and keeping your audience’s trust. Most social media platforms now require AI-use disclosures, and it is good practice to follow these guidelines to protect your accounts.

   
   

4. DON’T Forget to fact-check: AI machines like ChatGPT, CoPilot, and Perplexity aren’t perfect; they can, and often do, make mistakes. Be sure to check the accuracy of any copy you produce using AI to protect yourself and your business.

5. DO Know the Value of Human Input: The most important thing to remember when using AI for small-business marketing is that it has limits. AI models don’t actually think for themselves, and they can’t replace actual human marketing expertise. 

Ethical marketing isn’t about using every new tool; it’s about using the right tools with intention. If you’re navigating AI, automation, or evolving marketing expectations and want support that keeps your brand grounded, human, and aligned, we’d love to help. Thoughtful, ethical AI use for small business marketing helps ensure that automation supports your goals without compromising transparency, creativity, or human connection. Let’s talk about what thoughtful marketing looks like for your business.