AI agent or plain automation: which do I need?
The honest answer for most small businesses is plain automation first, then AI on the one step that needs judgement. Here is how I split the work.
| The job | Plain automation | AI agent |
|---|---|---|
| Send a reminder the day before an appointment | Yes, and it never guesses | Not needed |
| Copy a form entry into your sheet and notify the team | Yes | Not needed |
| Sort 200 enquiries a day into five kinds and draft a first reply | No, the wording varies too much | Yes, with a person approving |
| Summarise a 40 page document into the six points that matter | No | Yes |
| Recommend a price for each item from sales and stock history | No | Yes, with a ceiling on how far it can move |
What does an AI agent cost?
Two numbers matter. The build is quoted as one fixed price after a free call, and the running cost is the model bill plus whatever the automation tool charges.
I work out the running cost from the model's published prices and the volume you give me, so you see the arithmetic before you commit. Small jobs, including a single automation, start at $50.
What stops an agent from going wrong?
Narrow jobs, written limits, logs, and a human approving anything a customer reads. I also keep a set of real examples and run them after every change, so a tweak that breaks one case is caught before it reaches your inbox.