AI for business: March 2024

Terasu Rising · October 18, 2026 · 2 min read

This series looks back at the developments in artificial intelligence that mattered to established businesses, one month at a time, beginning in March 2024. Each article covers what happened and what it meant for an owner deciding where to invest time and money.

What happened

Anthropic released the Claude 3 models (March 4). The family came in three sizes at different prices, from a fast, inexpensive model to a larger model aimed at complex analysis. For businesses, the significant change was choice: a company could match the cost of a model to the difficulty of the task, rather than paying top prices for routine work.

The European Parliament approved the AI Act (March 13). The legislation sorts AI uses by risk, with the strictest obligations for uses such as hiring, credit and access to essential services. It entered into force on August 1, 2024, with obligations phased in over the following years. Businesses that sell into the European Union, or that use AI in employment decisions, now had a framework to plan around.

Nvidia announced its Blackwell chips (March 18). At its GTC conference, Nvidia presented the successor to the chips that power most large AI systems. Few owner-operated businesses buy such hardware directly, but the announcement signaled continued growth in computing capacity, which over time lowers the cost of running AI through cloud providers.

What it meant for business owners

• Model choice became a cost decision. With several capable models at different prices, the sensible approach was to use smaller, cheaper models for high-volume tasks and reserve larger models for work that needed them.
• Regulation became concrete. The AI Act gave businesses a reason to record where and how they used AI, particularly in decisions about people.
• Costs were expected to keep falling. Projects that were marginal on cost in early 2024 were worth revisiting as prices declined.

One action for owners

List every place your business currently uses AI, including tools staff adopted on their own. Note what data each tool receives and whether any decision about a customer or employee depends on it. That list is the starting point for both governance and future investment.

Next in the series: April 2024. Read our guide to onboarding AI for a step-by-step approach.