Charleston AI Playbook

A field guide · Charleston, SC

AI in Charleston, SC

Charleston businesses using AI. A free directory of real Lowcountry examples: the tool, the result, a public source, and a prompt you can copy.

Three local examples every Tuesday, plus one prompt you can use that afternoon. Free.

A ramen shop in Park Circle answers its phone with AI. SoundHound reports MUSC handles 2.2 million interactions a year by voice and chat. Mount Pleasant answers residents in 70+ languages on web and text. 28 sourced examples.

Updated

  1. 01Charleston Hospitality Group (Toast! All Day, Eli's Table, John King Grill)Charleston/Summerville/Mt Pleasant · Restaurants & HospitalityAnthropic ClaudeFirst Lowcountry hospitality company in the Claude Partner Network (June 2026)
  2. 02Katsubō Chicken & RamenNorth Charleston (Park Circle) · Restaurants & HospitalityAI phone attendant ("Kat"), later spun out as NoodlStaff can focus on guests in the room; owners now sell the tech to other restaurants as Noodl
  3. 03TasteSignal.ai (College of Charleston professor)Charleston · Restaurants & HospitalityProprietary AI ranking algorithmUpdated monthly; used as a live case study in a 40-student class
  4. 04The Dewberry CharlestonCharleston · Hotels & Short-Term RentalsIDeaS G3 RMS (machine-learning revenue management)Year-over-year gains in ADR, RevPAR and occupancy (vendor success story)
  5. 05Dunes Properties of CharlestonCharleston beaches · Hotels & Short-Term RentalsPriceLabs dynamic pricingVendor-reported: ADR up about 50%; one property went from $18k to $20k
  6. 06MUSC HealthCharleston · HealthcareSoundHound AI agent "Emily", integrated with Epic2.2M interactions/yr; 4.3/5 NPS; billing abandonment down up to 40% (vendor story)

Liking these? I send three local examples every Tuesday.

  1. 07Town of Mount PleasantMount Pleasant · Local Government"Sawyer" virtual assistant by Citibot (Charleston company)70+ languages on web and text
  2. 08Dorchester County Water & SewerDorchester County · Local Government"Mani" generative AI chat by CitibotSupports 75 languages
  3. 09Charleston Telecom SolutionsSummerville · Home & Business ServicesAllsio (in-house AI voice + SMS, built on OpenAI and Deepgram)Launched March 2026; also sells it to their own business customers
  4. 10Dream It Print It (Citadel Mall)West Ashley · RetailAI image generation + UV printingOwner says about 90% of what he prints is AI art
  5. 11OmnisightDaniel Island · Tech & ManufacturingEdge AI radar + video traffic sensor (NVIDIA GPU)Analyzes traffic 20 times per second; online dashboard
  6. 12Integer TechnologiesCharleston · Tech & ManufacturingCustom AI products$63M economic impact in 2024 (company figure)
  7. 13Charleston County (with Palmetto Goodwill)Charleston County · Local GovernmentGoodBiz.AIPalmetto Goodwill and partners are covering the cost for up to 250 local businesses for two years
  8. 14Charleston County School DistrictCharleston County · EducationMagicSchool.ai (teacher-only pilot)Policy adopted January 2026; AI can't be the sole basis for high-stakes decisions
  9. 15Renoverse AIMount Pleasant · Home & Business ServicesRenoverseAI app (voice-to-notes assistant)Founder says the goal is cutting the 14 hours a week small builders lose to admin; received a $25,000 SCRA startup grant
  10. 16LimRic Plumbing, Heating & AirCharleston · Home & Business ServicesHatch (automated follow-up connected to ServiceTitan)Vendor-reported: 30% more deals closed in 50% less follow-up time
  11. 17Case StatusDaniel Island / North Charleston · LegalCasey AI (built into the Case Status client app)The announcement says a staff member reviews each reply before it is sent
  12. 18The Kaufman Group (Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate)Summerville · Real EstateIn-house AI toolsTeam says the goal is eliminating 80–90% of repetitive tasks
  13. 19Jeff Cook Real Estate LPT RealtyCharleston · Real EstateYLOPO AI lead nurturingTeam reports 291 deals closed through paid-search channels in the last year
  14. 20The Post and Courier (with Wehaa)Charleston · Marketing & MediaWehaa AI-assisted ad productionAds that took hours of manual design are produced automatically (vendor-reported)
  15. 21BlackbaudDaniel Island · Tech & ManufacturingAI built into its nonprofit software70+ embedded AI capabilities announced (company-reported)
  16. 22BenefitfocusDaniel Island · Tech & ManufacturingBenefitSAIGECompany-reported launch
  17. 23AtapicNorth Charleston · Tech & ManufacturingAI lead-generation platformReceived a $25,000 SCRA startup grant
  18. 24Zom AI (College of Charleston student founder)Charleston · Tech & ManufacturingAI platform built on Anthropic's ClaudeFounder has raised $500,000; several firms are beta-testing (per CofC)
  19. 25Roper St. Francis Healthcare (Palmetto Market at Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital)Charleston · HealthcareAmazon Just Walk OutPartner announcement: called the first full-service coffee shop with barista service in a U.S. healthcare facility to use this technology, with no checkout line
  20. 26College of CharlestonCharleston · EducationMicrosoft Copilot, Google Gemini, library Research Assistant, and Zoom AI CompanionThe library says these tools have enterprise data protection, so data is not shared for training, and that access does not mean every course allows them
  21. 27LouLou AICharleston · Restaurants & Hospitality24/7 guest voice and messaging assistantReceived a $25,000 SCRA startup grant
  22. 28Thrive DataCharleston · LegalAI legal tech platformReceived a $25,000 SCRA startup grant

Common questions

How are Charleston businesses using AI?
The directory on this page lists sourced Charleston and Lowcountry examples. Katsubō Chicken & Ramen in Park Circle answers takeout, reservation, hours, and hiring calls with an AI phone attendant. SoundHound reports that MUSC Health handles 2.2 million interactions a year by voice and chat. That figure is the vendor’s. The Town of Mount Pleasant uses Sawyer, from the Charleston company Citibot, and the directory lists 70+ languages on web and text. Statewide, the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce reported on September 14, 2026 that 17.2% of South Carolina respondents to the Census Bureau’s Business Trends and Outlook Survey had used AI in the last two weeks. The post is https://dew.sc.gov/labor-market-information-blog/2026-09/how-are-businesses-south-carolina-using-ai.
What share of South Carolina businesses used AI?
In that September 14, 2026 post, 17.2% of South Carolina respondents said they had used AI in the last two weeks. The post puts the U.S. figure at 17.9%. 73.4% of South Carolina businesses said they had not used AI, and 9.4% answered "Do not know." The survey was conducted between November 2025 and February 2026. It counts AI use the employer has authorized. It does not show a worker who skips a tool the firm told them to use, or one who opens a tool the employer never approved.
What are South Carolina businesses using AI to do?
The same post says about 13.6% of all South Carolina businesses used some form of AI for sales and marketing, 12.5% for strategy and business development, and 9.9% for public relations and communications. 19.7% of South Carolina businesses used generative AI such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, or Claude. Among those businesses, 86.5% used it for writing and editing, about 47.9% to search for information or technical help, and 42.5% to analyze, translate, or summarize documents.
Is AI replacing workers, according to the state post?
The post says that among businesses that reported using AI, 96.3% said AI had no effect on total employment. 14.8% of AI-using businesses said that, in the last six months, AI had performed operations previously done by existing software. In comparison, 8.3% said it had performed a task done by an employee. Within that group, 85.3% said only a small number of tasks previously done by employees were instead performed by AI.