ISSUE #2 · SCEPTICAL ABOUT AI? SO ARE WE. · 3 MIN READ
Morning.
So, I've been using Lemon a lot more lately. It's one of these AI typing tools where you talk and it types. I used it for my notes on this week's issue, in fact.
I'd written it off as paying for something you can do for free. I've changed my mind. If you tend to ramble (guilty), it turns garbled thinking-out-loud into clean, structured copy. The built-in dictation on a Mac or PC, and the voice buttons in ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, mostly just type up what you said, word for word.
Bonus if you then paste it into an AI... a tidier prompt is a shorter one, so it uses up less of your plan's allowance. It might actually be worth paying for. (The free option's in the P.S.)
01 · THE BIG ONE
ChatGPT just got GPT-6. Which one, though?
What happened: OpenAI started rolling out GPT-6 on 7 October, free plan included. Answers can now come with charts and little tools built right into the chat, like a bill splitter.
The UK catch: you get it here too, but there are two GPT-6s. Free users get the lighter one, Luna. The bigger one, Sol, needs Plus or a Business account. Plus is about £15 ($20) a month plus VAT.
The bit nobody's reading: the thinking modes (where it takes longer over harder questions) have limits. Hit one and, says OpenAI's help page, "ChatGPT may continue with another available model". So that answer on a busy Tuesday afternoon might not come from the model you think. Honestly, I don't know yet how obvious that switch is on screen.
THE SMALL PRINT VERDICT
Real, but check the sums.
Fine to try on whatever plan you've already got. Just don't trust a calculator it knocks up for a quote or a VAT sum until you've checked it against your own figures.
FAFF FACTOR: LOW · COST: £ · RISK: SUMS THAT LOOK RIGHT
Do this instead: give it a sum you already know the answer to. Ask for a quick VAT calculator, put in last month's biggest invoice and see if it matches your accounts.
Our take: fine to play with, but I wouldn't trust it with a VAT return just yet. The sums that matter stay in my spreadsheet.
FREE FOR SUBSCRIBERS
AI Use Policy template for your team
Your staff are probably using AI already. This plain-English policy takes ten minutes to tweak and fits on the kitchen wall. Know another boss who needs one? Send them your link from the bottom of this email. It's free when they join at getthesmallprint.com.
02 · WORTH IT?
ChatGPT inside Microsoft Word
Since 17 September, ChatGPT can sit in a sidebar inside Word, answering questions about your document or rewriting the bit you've highlighted. It's on every plan, free included.
I don't want to be a killjoy, but OpenAI's own page says it "can make mistakes or make unintended edits" and tells you to keep a copy of important work. Tables may need fixing by hand. And on paid plans, it eats into the same allowance as some other features.
Business accounts don’t have what you type used for training by default. On free and personal plans, check the training setting before you paste in anything about a client.
THE SMALL PRINT VERDICT
Free to try. Not worth paying for on its own.
A few minutes to install and sign in (if your staff use Microsoft 365 through work, whoever runs it has to allow the add-in first). Handy if you already pay for ChatGPT... but I wouldn't start paying just for this.
COST: FREE TO TRY · FAFF FACTOR: LOW · WOULD I PAY? NOT FOR THIS ALONE
If you use it: work on a copy, not the original. Open a quote you're about to send, ask it "what's unclear or missing here?" and make the changes yourself rather than letting it edit for you.
03 · MONDAY FIX · 15 MINUTES
You can't bury a bad review under fake good ones. Since April 2025, fake and secretly paid-for reviews have been banned under UK consumer law. So your reply is what customers judge. Paste this into ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot:
Here's a negative review of my business: [paste the review text only].
Here's what actually happened: [two lines].
Write a public reply that thanks them, says sorry about their experience
without admitting to anything we didn't do, explains in one sentence,
and invites them to contact [first name] on [email or phone] to sort it.
Under 80 words. Warm and British, not corporate. No excuses, no arguing.Paste in the review, not the customer's name (rule 2 of the AI Use Policy says no customer personal details in AI tools). Read the reply out loud before posting. If it sounds like a call centre, rewrite the first line yourself.
04 · QUICK BITS
Diesel's hit £2. The average litre passed 200p for the first time, according to the RAC. If you run vans, look at your call-out charge.
Waiting longer to get paid? In a Bibby Financial Services survey of 1,000+ SME owners, 60% said customers are paying slower than a year ago.
Unions can knock from 30 October. With 21 or more workers, a union can ask for access to your workplace, and you'll have 15 working days to reply.
ONE-CLICK POLL
What type of AI does your business use?
And hit reply to tell me which AI tool you actually pay for, and whether it's worth it. I read every one.
Read the small print. See you next Monday.
P.S. If you'd rather try free first, dictation's already on your computer. Press the Windows key + H on a PC, or Edit > Start Dictation on a Mac. It types what you say word for word, though, so the tidying up is still your job.
