Getting Started With AI at Level Up Academy 2026
AI is already part of how many small businesses market, hire and serve customers, and plenty of owners are setting their own rules as they go. On Friday, October 23, a Level Up Academy panel of values-driven business owners will talk about how they’ve used AI without compromising their principles, and why small business voices matter as Colorado decides how to regulate it. Before the session, we asked two of the speakers where a small business should start.
At a glance
Session: 1:00 to 2:00pm MT, Friday, October 23
Speakers include: Bryce Arii, Founder & CEO, and Kelly Diekvoss, Chief Innovation Officer, of Humagined
Where: History Colorado Center, 1200 Broadway, Denver, or online
Cost: Free, with breakfast and lunch included in person
Cutting through the noise: real talk on AI from our small business community
1:00 to 2:00pm
Bryce Arii, Founder & CEO of Humagined, and Kelly Diekvoss, Humagined’s Chief Innovation Officer, help organizations build AI guardrails their teams will actually follow. For a small business getting started, their advice comes down to a few steps.
Write down what AI is for, and what it isn’t. Bryce recommends a one-page guide, not a policy manual. Green-light uses like drafting emails or summarizing notes. Yellow-light uses that need a human check before anything goes out. And red-light uses that are off-limits. “When people know where the lines are, they stop guessing and start using it with confidence.” Keep it simple, he says, because “if your guardrails feel like red tape, people will work around them.”
Keep sensitive data out of free tools. Both put customer financials, employee records and passwords on the off-limits list. Kelly adds that a free chatbot on a personal account isn’t the same as a business account your company controls. Use a business plan, turn on two-factor login, and check the privacy settings so your data isn’t used to train the AI company’s models.
Clean up your data first. “A dashboard built on bad data gives you a wrong number,” Kelly says. “An AI tool built on bad data gives you a confident, well-written wrong answer.” If you have three versions of your customer list, pick the one you trust before you build on it.
Keep a person in the loop. Anything that goes out the door should be reviewed and edited to sound like your business. In Kelly’s words, “AI should give you a strong first draft, not the final word.”
Start with one task. Pick something that eats up time every week, like writing quotes or answering common customer questions, and try AI there first. Kelly’s advice to her classes: automate the thing you hate most in your day.
Join us and other business owners like you
The day opens with a breakfast mixer at 9:00am and a welcome from Good Business Colorado leadership. The morning session covers small businesses and Colorado’s health costs from 10:30am to 12:00pm, followed by lunch and networking at noon. The AI panel at 1:00pm leads into a session on data centers at 2:00pm, and a closing session follows at 3:00pm. This year’s theme, “This is for the history makers,” is a nod to the venue and to the everyday business owners who have shaped Colorado’s communities.
Choose an in-person ticket (breakfast and lunch included), a virtual ticket (the link is emailed to you), or the member ticket if you belong to the Good Business Colorado Association.
Level Up Academy is Friday, October 23, 9:00am to 4:00pm MT, at History Colorado Center and online. Registration closes Thursday, October 22. Register here.