Is the AI Hype Finally Paying Off? OpenAI's Million-Business Milestone & What It Means for Australia

Llew Jury

Alright, welcome back to the AI Intelligence Podcast, with thanks to Advancer - The AI Agency, I'm Llew Jury with my co-host Ollie and picture this—OpenAI’s just announced they’ve crossed over a million business customers worldwide. That’s a million companies, from big, global operators to, you know, probably some little design studio in Brisbane, all apparently getting value from ChatGPT on the clock. And they’re not mucking around: 7 million paid individual seats now for ChatGPT for Work, which—that’s up more than 40% in just, like, two months. Even the Enterprise seats have gone up ninefold in a year; that is serious momentum.

Ollie Carter

Hi Llew, and welcome to everyone. Yes it's impressive. What actually jumps out to me Llew, is that these aren’t just vanity numbers anymore. We’ve moved past people using ChatGPT to write poems about their boss, now you’ve got companies like Cisco literally slicing code review times in half. I mean, that’s weeks and months shaved off projects. For someone who came up in startups, that sort of acceleration would have been unheard of three, four years ago. The productivity talk is finally landing in people’s actual workflows, not just investor slide decks.

Llew Jury

Exactly. And the range of use cases is fascinating, too. I mean, Carlyle, which is one of the biggest investment houses globally, used this new AgentKit from OpenAI. So they built, like, this little team of AIs to speed up their due diligence. Cut their development time for that framework by half—think what that means for multi-million dollar decisions. You’re not spending months in spreadsheets anymore.

Ollie Carter

But, everyone’s wondering: how does this stack up for, say, a small accounting firm in Geelong or a logistics business in Cairns? That’s where these business school numbers kick in. Wharton did a deep dive—turns out 88% of Tech and Telecoms, 83% of Banking and Professional Services, they’re seeing ROI, proper positive dollars. Even retail, which I always thought was slow to the party, 54% are in the green on this stuff.

Llew Jury

Yeah, those numbers would have seemed wild a couple years ago. Like, you’d tell an SME owner, “Hey, AI’s going to make you money directly,” they’d just give you that look. In the previous years of VC, people always hyped productivity, but it’s only become real once the tech’s woven into, say, your SharePoint or your Google Drive. OpenAI’s ‘Company Knowledge’ feature, that’s where the magic is happening—suddenly, the AI’s not just spitting out generic advice, it’s drawing on your actual files, your context.

Ollie Carter

Yeah, it’s a giant leap! It feels like we’re—finally—at the turning point, where AI’s not just a shiny demo but an embedded business tool. If you’re not onboard now, it honestly looks like you risk being left behind. That productivity gap, it’s just going to widen fast from here.

Ollie Carter

So, with numbers like that, you’d think every Aussie business is drinking the Kool-Aid, right? But...not quite. Llew, did you see that recent Xero survey?

Llew Jury

Yeah mate, 57% of growing Aussie small businesses are using AI weekly—which on the surface is huge, really. But then half of ’em admit they’d barely miss it if it vanished tomorrow! It’s got that classic “she’ll be right” vibe about it. We’re sort of in, but not fully, and I’ve seen this loads: people use AI for marketing, maybe whipping up a blog or some social posts, but when it comes to core ops? That’s not happening in most cases.

Ollie Carter

Exactly! What’s weird is, there’s this big opportunity, but most businesses haven’t dug deep into it yet. Like, they're dabbling, scratching the surface for easy AI wins. The main stuff that moves the needle from a revenue or productivity level gets left because people are worried about, I don’t know... time, the learning curve, messing up their data, that sort of thing. They’re busy, a bit wary. I get it, but if everyone’s just using it for marketing, then there’s a lot left on the table.

Llew Jury

Totally, and that’s the Aussie way of old, isn’t it? Somewhat cautious —you want to see it work before jumping fully in. But also—this is a risk. We talked about this in the 'Bubble Trouble’ episode a few weeks back: if you wait too long, those “experimental” businesses become your competitors moving twice as fast. On the trust bit, that Xero survey called out data security and accuracy. We are more time-poor here, and there’s a lot of “let’s see how everyone else goes before we commit.”

Ollie Carter

For sure. It reminds me, the same survey said about a third of businesses are about to push AI further, especially into their books and accounting over the next six months. So, there’s movement—from just the fluffy marketing or blogging tasks into the serious stuff. That’s when we’ll really see if the hype turns into genuine dollar-return help, yeah?

Llew Jury

Yeah, the proof will be in the P&L, won’t it? AI tech is here and it’s not going away. Now, it’s just about the mindset shift—getting Aussie businesses to see this as must-have, not just nice-to-have experimental stuff. The early wins are there, we just need to pick up the pace.

Llew Jury

Now, let’s be honest, not every AI story’s a fairy tale. That MIT ‘State of AI in Business’ study—did you see that stat, Ollie? Ninety-five percent of AI pilots are flopping, not delivering a single bit of P&L impact! It’s huge. It’s not really a tech problem, though—most of the flops are from just throwing AI at things with no target. Treating it like, you know, buying new software and hoping someone figures out what to do with it.

Ollie Carter

So true. And a lot of firms fall into that “Shadow AI” trap—like, employees using whatever free tools they can find, but with no real strategy or alignment. That’s where stuff goes haywire and nothing gets measured. The successful ones, they start with a pain point. Like, “Our invoice processing takes too long—how do we halve it with AI?” Suddenly the software isn’t the headline, the outcome is. That’s the playbook.

Llew Jury

Yeah, and getting someone with real expertise to guide you—that makes a difference. Even in my own businesses, the projects that worked always started with a clear business problem, not just “we need to be doing AI.”

Ollie Carter

Speaking of which, there are actually great homegrown examples. A Sydney copywriting company for instance. Used to do a heap of editing, lost most of it to generative AI. But instead of scrapping, the founder has pivoted. They've leaned into high-value, strategic writing for things like grants and tenders. They still use AI, but only as an assistant—summaries, outlines, proofreading, that sort of thing. The team can focus on real value work. Their revenue per head has actually gone up since automating the grunt stuff.

Llew Jury

That’s it—AI has become a lever, not a replacement. That’s the blueprint for every Aussie service-based business worried about being replaced. Find the work the AI can’t do well—strategy, nuance, operations, basic relationship stuff—then use AI to free up time for it. You go from surviving tech disruption to actually thriving with it.

Ollie Carter

So, practical plan for listeners? Start really, really small. Pick one process you hate right now —something tedious or repetitive. Spend thirty minutes this week looking for an AI tool that can cut it down. Then, actually talk to your AI advisory team such as Advancer —seriously, experienced folks like them are ahead on this, and they know what’s safe, what actually works with your workflow.

Llew Jury

Yeah, and lastly—do a quick team brainstorm, just fifteen minutes. Ask what the most repetitive part of everyone’s job is. You’ll get more useful AI opportunities from that than any glossy tech roadmap. It’s about solving real Aussie business headaches, not buying shiny distractions.

Ollie Carter

Couldn’t agree more! That’s about all we’ve got time for today. AI’s here—maybe the payday is finally landing for those who get strategic. Before we go, this episode was brought to you by Advancer - The AI Agency. Get in touch with their team at Advancer dot com dot au. Llew, always a pleasure talking shop with you.

Llew Jury

Likewise Ollie. Thanks to everyone for tuning in to The AI Intelligence Podcast. Don’t forget, we’ll be back next week with plenty more sharp, practical AI stories for your business. Catch you then!