E-commerce platform eBay offers free ChatGPT training and tools | Computer Weekly

Online e-commerce platform eBay has started working with OpenAI to offer sellers on its website 12 months’ free access to ChatGPT Enterprise and custom eBay-developed GPT productivity tools.

Open from today, the eBay AI Activate training programme, worth over £3m, aims to skill up small UK businesses with fully funded access to the latest custom artificial intelligence (AI) productivity tools and training. The programme is open to all businesses that sell on eBay. The company aims to sign up 10,000 firms this year.

The programme aims to provide eBay sellers with access to ChatGPT Enterprise for up to 12 months, in addition to tailored training to help unlock its potential. The company said it will also provide dedicated support by working with sellers to develop custom GPTs to grow their business on the e-commerce platform.

According to eBay, there is a strong appetite for using AI among UK small businesses, but there is also a need for assistance in applying it to achieve business impact. 

Eve Williams, general manager at eBay UK, said: “The issue is no longer whether businesses should adopt AI; it is how quickly they can start before their competitors do. Those businesses and economies that don’t invest in AI now risk being left behind.”

Data from eBay shows that 69% of online businesses feel excited (43%) or curious (26%) about the potential of artificial intelligence, but many are still working out how to make the best use of the technology.

Discussing the opportunity, Ronnie Chatterji, chief economist at OpenAI, said: “Small businesses power the UK economy, accounting for over 99% of the UK’s firms. Yet for too long, they have not had the tools to drive increases in productivity the way larger firms do. This collaboration could change that. By putting world-class AI tools in the hands of 10,000 UK entrepreneurs, we’re investing in the UK’s economic engine. If we want to close the productivity gap, this is where to start.”

By putting world-class AI tools in the hands of 10,000 UK entrepreneurs, we’re investing in the UK’s economic engine. If we want to close the productivity gap, this is where to start

The International Monetary Fund has forecast that broader AI adoption could add as much as £470bn to GDP by 2035.

The minister for small business and economic transformation, Blair McDougall, said: “Increasing SME growth by just 1% per year could deliver a whopping £320bn to the economy by 2030, which is why programmes like this are so important to our Plan for Change.

“Our Small Business Strategy is giving SMEs the tools they need. This includes acting on the recommendations of the SME Digital Adoption Taskforce, launching new digital adoption pilots, and partnering with wider industry to provide support like this initiative from eBay and OpenAI.”

The launch of eBay AI Activate is part of a broader AI focus at eBay. The company has deployed ChatGPT Enterprise globally to enhance team creativity, exploration and productivity.

“AI is reshaping e-commerce and eBay is all-in. We see this as a generational opportunity to reimagine buying and selling for our customers, powered by three decades of marketplace insights and cutting-edge models,” said Nitzan Mekel-Bobrov, chief AI officer at eBay.