Baker City to host free AI workshop for small businesses

A free 90-minute AI workshop in Baker City will try to give small-business owners a practical way to save time on writing, customer communication and brainstorming without hiring a tech consultant. For many Baker County operators, the appeal is simple: learn what generative AI can do, what it cannot do and how to use it without getting buried in extra work or avoidable mistakes.

The Northeast Oregon Economic Development District scheduled AI Unlocked - Baker City and Virtual for June 10 from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. The session will be led by Lorin Ricker, founder of CoyoteThinking LLC, and will be available both in person and online. NEOEDD says the workshop is designed to “bust the myths,” explain prompt engineering and deliver “real results in 90 minutes.”

NEOEDD is pitching the class to entrepreneurs, small-business owners and top managers, but says it is also suitable for professionals, educators, writers, marketers and students. The district says no tech background is needed, a detail that matters in a county where many workplaces do not have dedicated IT staff or digital strategy teams. For owners juggling payroll, scheduling, marketing and customer messages, the promise is less about futuristic automation than about getting a clearer handle on everyday office tasks.

Ricker’s NEOEDD bio says he has more than 50 years of hands-on experience in software development, engineering leadership and practical innovation. That background gives the workshop a more grounded tone than a typical software demo, especially for rural businesses trying to decide whether AI is worth the time and risk.

The Baker City session is one of three in the region. NEOEDD listed an AI Unlocked workshop in Joseph for June 3 and another in La Grande for June 4, both from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. The district already runs annual Small Business Success Days in Baker, Union and Wallowa counties, showing the AI training fits into a broader effort to support local employers with workshops, funding and technical help.

That support comes at a moment when AI is moving into mainstream business use. The U.S. Small Business Administration says AI can help small businesses do more with less, while also urging owners to weigh both the risks and the benefits. In Northeast Oregon, where NEOEDD says it served 174 entrepreneurs and businesses and deployed $290,961 in capital in 2024-25, the Baker City workshop is another sign that small operators are being asked to adapt now, not later.