Your 5 Min AI Training - AI Automations
How to Automate Boring Tasks with AI
Word of the Day: AI Automations
What if I told you that 40% of your workweek is spent on tasks a robot could do for you, 24/7, automatically?
AI Automations are systems that handle repetitive digital tasks automatically, without you lifting a finger. They respond to contact forms. Update spreadsheets. Call new leads. Answer customer requests. Book meetings.
The work still gets done. You just stop doing it.
Automations have existed for years, but they were never able to “think” like they can now. An automation that uses AI to think is called an AI automation.
AI automations help you:
Save time on repetitive work
Reduce dropped balls (follow-ups, reminders, routing)
Turn messy info (emails, forms, notes) into clean next steps
And much more…
How do they work?
You build AI automations using one of the many software tools I’ve listed below in the Tools & Tips section. They are built like a row of blocks, where one block (or step, as they are called) follows the next. Here is an example of what an automation could look like:
The first step is called the Trigger. This is what begins the automation. A Trigger can be many things such as:
New email received (in a specific inbox/label)
A time of day or every hour / every 15 minutes / every Monday
New survey response received
New order placed
New social mention
Once this Trigger occurs, the automation starts and goes to the next step. There are thousands of potential steps you can set up depending on your needs. Below are a few examples:
Send a notification (Slack/text/email)
Add a new row to a spreadsheet
Create a task (Asana/Trello/ClickUp)
Send an email reply or follow-up email
Post a message to a team channel (Slack/Microsoft Teams)
Post a social media message
And you can keep adding steps, as many as it takes to finish the job. That part isn’t new. What’s new is AI. Now your steps can do things only a human could previously do, like:
Using our “standard procedures” PDF, figure out the answer to the customers email question, then draft a friendly reply email to the customer and send it
Call a new lead (using an AI Voice Agent), answer their questions, and book a demo on the calendar
Figure out whether this reply is positive or negative, then route it to the right next step
AI is added to the automation as just another step. Basically, think of it as inserting a new block in the series that uses a popular AI model (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc.) to accomplish the task.
If you’ve played around with ChatGPT or Claude, you already know how powerful these AI models are. Now imagine adding that same intelligence into your automations. Everything these AI models can do becomes an automatic step: writing summaries, drafting emails, analyzing data, creating images, even generating videos. All happening in the background while you focus on other things.
Want to get fancy? You can even add multiple AI steps in a row. One AI reads the customer email, another drafts a reply, and a third double-checks accuracy and tone. Each step improves the automation results, and the whole thing happens in seconds.
The possibilities are endless, but let’s start with a simple training automation you can build along with me.
Skill of the Day: Build Your First AI Automation
Ready to see how this actually works? I’m going to walk you through building a real AI automation that posts daily tennis updates to a Facebook page. This is a perfect beginner project because it combines scheduling, AI research, AI writing, and social media posting—four essential automation skills in one simple workflow.
What You’ll Build:
1. Trigger: Schedule daily at 8:00 AM
2. Research Step: Pull yesterday’s top tennis scores from a reliable source
3. AI Writing Step: Summarize the scores and add upbeat player shout-outs
4. Post Step: Publish automatically to a Facebook page you manage
Why This Automation is Great for Learning:
You’ll see how triggers work (time-based scheduling)
You’ll connect to an external data source (Gemini for sports scores)
You’ll use AI to transform the data into engaging content (ChatGPT)
You’ll publish the result automatically to social media
In this tutorial, I’ll show you exactly how to build this in Zapier step-by-step. Even if you’re not into tennis, the same pattern works for any niche: crypto prices, stock market moves, weather updates, industry news—you name it.
REMEMBER: If you get stuck, just ask AI for help. Take a screenshot of where you are stuck, paste the image into ChatGPT, and ask for help!
Tools & Tips: Where to Build Your AI Automations
Below are the most popular automation tools, along with what makes each one great and current pricing. Pricing changes frequently, so always double-check the tool’s pricing page before committing.
Zapier (best for beginners and maximum integrations)
What it’s great at: Quick no-code automations across thousands of apps
Pricing: Free tier available, paid plans start around $20/month
Pro Tip: Zapier Copilot lets you describe what you want in plain English and it helps build and maintain automations across Zaps, Interfaces, Tables, Agents, and Chatbots.
Link: https://zapier.com/
Make (best visual builder for complex workflows)
What it’s great at: Visual “flowchart” automations with branching logic
Pricing: Free tier available, paid plans start around $9/month
Link: https://www.make.com/
n8n (best flexibility and self-hosting option)
What it’s great at: Powerful workflows, more control, developer-friendly
Pricing: Cloud plans start around $20/month, free self-hosting option available
Link: https://n8n.io/
Microsoft Power Automate (best if you live in Microsoft 365)
What it’s great at: Automating Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, Excel
Pricing: Included with many Microsoft 365 plans, standalone plans available
Link: https://www.microsoft.com/en/power-platform/products/power-automate
Pipedream (best for “no-code plus some code” teams)
What it’s great at: Developer-friendly workflows, APIs, custom logic
Pricing: Free tier available, paid plans start around $19/month
Link: https://pipedream.com/
Workato (enterprise-grade automation)
What it’s great at: Large organizations, governance, complex integrations
Pricing: Generally demo or quote-based (enterprise pricing)
Link: https://www.workato.com/
UiPath (RPA: automating “computer clicks” and legacy systems)
What it’s great at: Robotic process automation (RPA) for repetitive back-office tasks
Pricing: Community edition available, enterprise pricing varies
Link: https://www.uipath.com/platform/agentic-automation
Also worth noting: Automat (AI-driven RPA)
What it’s great at: You don’t build the automations yourself—you just show them what you want automated
How it works: Upload a screen recording, process document, or example files, and their team (plus AI agents) builds, tests, and manages the automation for you
Pricing: Contact for custom enterprise pricing
Link: https://www.runautomat.com/
Perfect for businesses that want AI automations but don’t have the time or technical skills to build them.
In the News: What’s Happening with AI Automation Right Now
1) Deloitte and WSJ: “Augment, not just automate”
The best companies use AI to support people (drafting, summarizing, insights), while humans focus on judgment, creativity, and relationships. It’s not “replace your team,” it’s “give your team superpowers.”
Why it matters: This approach helps you keep the human touch in your business while still getting efficiency gains. Your customers still get you—just a faster, more organized version.
2) Business Insider: Eric Schmidt says AI is “under-hyped”
Schmidt argues the biggest wins are still ahead, especially in less glamorous “corporate plumbing” like billing, inventory, accounting, and operations. That’s where automation can unlock huge value.
Why it matters: The flashy stuff gets attention, but the boring back-office work is where small businesses can see immediate ROI. Nobody brags about automated invoice processing, but everyone loves getting paid faster.
3) Unite.AI: How AI Automation Is Redefining Patient Communication in Clinics
AI automation is moving into patient communication like scheduling, reminders, and routine questions. The tone is shifting from hype to practical rollout with real workflows.
Why it matters: If healthcare (one of the most regulated industries) is automating customer communication, it’s proven and ready for mainstream business use. If they can do it with HIPAA compliance, you can do it too.
4) Penn Today: How might AI shape the future of work?
Research coverage highlights that AI often changes parts of many roles. Translation: Your job might not disappear, but your workflow will. People who learn to work with AI tend to come out ahead.
Why it matters: You don’t need to become an AI expert overnight. Start by automating one repetitive task in your role and build from there. Think evolution, not revolution.
5) Insurance Business: AI can already do around 12% of work (in task terms)
A simulation-based finding suggests today’s AI is technically capable of performing tasks worth 11.7% of wage value, roughly $1.2 trillion annually, with heavy exposure in document-heavy, rules-driven work.
Why it matters: If you’re doing paperwork, data entry, or following standard procedures, those are prime candidates for automation right now. That 12% could be the difference between staying late every night and leaving at 5pm.
6) Inc.: How to integrate AI and automation now (not “someday”)
Practical advice theme: Start small, automate repeatable processes, measure impact, and scale what works. Focus on outcomes (time saved, errors reduced, faster response).
Why it matters: You don’t need a big budget or tech team. Pick one workflow that annoys you every week and automate it this month. Then pick another one next month.
Next Issue: Build apps and websites without coding skills? It’s called “Vibe Coding,” and it’s going to blow your mind.
Thanks for reading. Have a tool or news story we should cover? Reply to this email.