Google's Route 66 AI tour finds 85% of small businesses using it saw sales grow

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Google's Grow with Google initiative spent August touring historic Route 66, running hands-on AI training workshops for small business owners across Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona and California ahead of the highway's official centennial this November. The Make AI Work for You tour partnered with local chambers of commerce and Small Business Development Centers, drawing hundreds of entrepreneurs to practical sessions on using AI for everyday operational tasks

Google cited US Chamber of Commerce data showing 85 percent of small businesses that use AI saw increased sales over the past year, and 82 percent grew their teams, framing the tour as addressing a genuine confidence gap rather than an access gap, since free tools already exist but many small business owners haven't had hands-on guidance actually using them. The company continues offering its Google AI Professional Certificate at no cost to US small businesses, including a newer vibe coding course that walks users through planning, testing, debugging and launching custom apps using plain language rather than code

The tour builds on Google's broader Grow with Google program, which has separately partnered with individual states and library systems on free AI and career training. Curious what people think about this kind of hands-on, in-person training approach specifically, does physically showing up in a community meaningfully change adoption compared to just having free online resources already available, or is the actual gap something these tours can't fully close

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