{"id":404,"date":"2026-06-21T21:33:58","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T21:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?p=404"},"modified":"2026-06-21T21:33:58","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T21:33:58","slug":"amazon-ai-and-local-media-at-617-day-small-business-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?p=404","title":{"rendered":"Amazon, AI and local media at 617 Day small business summit"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The second annual 617 Day small business summit took an optimistic tone, with panels directed at helping local business owners succeed in the age of AI and Amazon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018The Death of Robin Hood\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

617 Day is a small business holiday created by Cambridge Local First, a network of more than 400 businesses. It plays off both the traditional area code for Greater Boston and its date, June 17.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Approximately 60 people attended the event Wednesday at the USQ building in Union Square. They saw panelists discuss how business can interact with AI, local media, and alternatives to ecommerce giants.<\/p>\n

Local AI <\/h2>\n

The first panel was about AI on Main Street, and was moderated by Cambridge Vice Mayor Burhan Azeem, who focused the discussion on how business owners can make AI work for them by automating processes and innovating.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cJust dive in\u201d to AI, said Tim Valicenti, a lecturer at MIT\u2019s Sloan School of Management. Valicenti said as little as an evening spent working with AI engines was enough to gain useful knowledge. Valicenti also recommended business owners treat AI like an intern: check for mistakes and train them further to avoid future mistakes.<\/p>\n

While many are afraid or confused by AI, the technology is giving people \u201cmore time back\u201d to do more of what they love and the ability to spend less time on paperwork or scheduling, said Conor Henrie, the director of product at the restaurant management platform Toast. He acknowledged that it can take 20 to 25 years for \u201ctechnology to really percolate,\u201d but now is the time for business owners to start using AI and stay technologically literate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Panelists suggested having AI send you a daily email with statistics used in your work \u2014 the weather, interest rates, etc. \u2014 or set reminders of routine tasks or bills you may otherwise forget.<\/p>\n

Find a business area \u201cwhere a mistake is not going to be life threatening,\u201d said Stephanie Woerner, the director of the MIT Center for Information Systems Research. She also recommended \u201cI think that we\u2019re missing a real opportunity if we don\u2019t think about how we can use AI to do things that we don\u2019t know how to do,\u201d Woerner said. Plugging anonymized data into a search engine and then asking lots of questions to identify customers trends can be a great way to start, she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And, while there are fears that AI will replace workers, Woerner said businesses should be able to figure out how to use the technology \u201cto get the most out of your people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local media and local business<\/h2>\n

AI was also a topic of the second panel, The Power of Local Media. While AI is being used to produce articles in some newsrooms, it has real potential \u201cfor doing things that we don\u2019t have the bodies to do,\u201d such as covering the 60 political meetings in Cambridge each month, said Michael Fitzgerald, Editor-in-Chief of Cambridge Day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, panelists said AI is not journalism\u2019s main threat; rather, declining audiences, the business model and a lack of media literacy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur biggest challenge is getting people to appreciate and value what it takes to actually be reporting,\u201d Fitzgerald said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Cambridge Community Television President Matt Landry, the challenge is knowing there is no funding to replace the loss of revenue from declining cable subscriptions.<\/p>\n

Read more At the Middle East, singing for his mental health<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite falling engagement, CCTV and other community access stations can help businesses \u201ctell their story and elevate their brand\u201d through media literacy education, Landry said. \u201cMedia literacy, to me, is not just being able to understand the media messages that you see, but also being able to communicate and put messages out into the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the internet is bombarded with misinformation, people naturally have an intuition for truth which can be reinforced by \u201cacquiring news from trustworthy, credible sources,\u201d said Michael Gutierrez, the arts editor at the Cambridge Somerville Independent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For businesses looking to collaborate or connect with local media outlets, Gutierrez noted the media\u2019s goal is \u201cto find the real human beings\u201d behind the businesses and artistic events in the community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Local as Amazon alternative<\/h2>\n

The final panel, The Amazon Alternative, explored reasons why consumers should shop local and how small businesses can compete with ecommerce giants like Amazon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

By not supporting local businesses, \u201cwe\u2019re slowly funding the vacancy of our own main streets and the isolation of our own neighborhoods\u201d and trading connection with a business owner \u201cfor a cardboard box dropped on a porch,\u201d said Barbara Thomas, the owner of Artifact Soapworks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

M.J. Pullins, owner of the adult entertainment store Hubba Hubba, which closed in December, said her wholesaler was selling products on Amazon for the wholesale price. Overall, it\u2019s important to shop at small businesses whenever you can or they\u2019ll be gone when you need them, Pullins said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shopping locally means 60 cents for every dollar spent will be reinvested in the community, versus 30 cents from big business sales and only one penny from Amazon, said panel moderator Theodora Skeadas, the head of AI Red Teaming and former executive director of Cambridge Local First.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Supporting local businesses is \u201cas easy as supporting Amazon,\u201d said Thomas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And shopping locally doesn\u2019t always have to be done in person. The Vermont-based ecommerce site Myti.com created a browser extension that shows online shoppers local options for whatever they\u2019re searching for on Target, Walmart or other ecommerce sites.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Myti helps connect the consumer with businesses who are knowledgeable and passionate about their product, said its founder, Bill Calfee.<\/p>\n

While consumers may be used to the convenience of next-day shipping, the benefit of shopping locally is \u201cbuying something of high-quality, integrity, and longevity that \u2026 actually outlives the fast-shipping alternative,\u201d Thomas said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There were also opportunities for networking at the festival. The point was to create a summit with \u201csomething for everybody who is engaged and who is interested in a thriving local economy,\u201d said Katie Labrie, executive director of Cambridge Local First.<\/p>\n

Read more Trinity\u2019s Touch salon celebrating 20 years<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The second annual 617 Day small business summit took an optimistic tone, with panels directed at helping local business owners succeed in the age of AI and Amazon.\u00a0 Read more \u2018The Death of Robin Hood\u2019 617 Day is a small business holiday created by Cambridge Local First, a network of more than 400 businesses. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-business"],"yoast_head":"\nAmazon, AI and local media at 617 Day small business summit - Cambridge Moving Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?p=404\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Amazon, AI and local media at 617 Day small business summit - Cambridge Moving Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The second annual 617 Day small business summit took an optimistic tone, with panels directed at helping local business owners succeed in the age of AI and Amazon.\u00a0 Read more \u2018The Death of Robin Hood\u2019 617 Day is a small business holiday created by Cambridge Local First, a network of more than 400 businesses. 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