Ep 06 · Level 2 · Chatbot, workflow or agent
Chatbot, workflow or agent?
Everything is sold as an AI agent now. One question tells them apart: who decides the next step? One job, chasing late payers, done three ways.
Your accounting software, your website chatbot, probably your printer: everything is an "AI agent" now. Most of them aren't.
One question tells them apart: who decides the next step? Here is the same job, "chase my late payers", done three ways.
1. AI chatbot: you decide
Ask a chatbot to chase your late payers and it writes you a nice reminder. Then it waits.
You find the customers. You copy, you paste, you send. You decide every next step.
2. AI workflow: the script decides
An AI workflow runs a script someone drew up: every Monday, pull the overdue list, let AI write each reminder, send. Fast, and the same steps every time.
Then a customer replies, "I'll pay next Friday." Reading replies isn't a step, so next Monday they get chased again. The AI did its box well. The script decided the rest.
3. AI agent: the agent decides
An agent gets a goal instead: get paid. It opens your cash flow sheet and finds the three overdue customers. It drafts a message for each, with their own invoice, and tells you they're ready to send. Or, if you've let it and it's sure, it sends them itself.
Three days later it reads the replies. "Paid already." "Next Friday." It follows up the rest.
- Plan.
- Act.
- Check.
- Again, until the job is done.
Which one do you want?
Not always the agent.
- Thinking something through, or a one-off? An AI chatbot.
- The same job, the same steps, every week? An AI workflow.
- A goal with messy steps, where every reply is different? An AI agent.
Try it
Your turn: answering enquiries, chasing payments, posting on Instagram. For each one, would you pick a chatbot, a workflow or an agent?
Share your answer with OC in the comments@onecrew.aiThat's the map for Level 2. Next, we take each one in turn, starting with the AI chatbot: when it's the right pick, and how to get more out of it.
Read the transcript
Everything's an "AI agent" now. Your accounting software. Your chatbot. Probably your printer. Most of them aren't. So how do you tell? One question: who decides the next step? Let's go.
One job, three ways. "Chase my late payers."
A chatbot writes you a nice reminder. Then it waits. You find the customers. You copy, you paste, you send. You decide every next step.
An AI workflow runs a script. Every Monday, pull the overdue list, let AI write each reminder, send. Same steps every time. A customer replies, "I'll pay next Friday." Reading replies isn't a step. So next Monday, they get chased again. The script decides.
An agent gets a goal: get paid. It opens your cash flow sheet. Finds three customers, overdue. Drafts a message for each, with their own invoice, and tells you they're ready to send. Or, if it's sure, sends them itself. Three days later, it reads the replies. "Paid already." "Next Friday." It follows up the rest. Plan. Act. Check. Again. The agent decides.
So which one do you want? Not always the agent. Thinking something through? A chatbot. Same job, same steps, every week? A workflow. A goal with messy steps, where every reply is different? That's an agent.
Pick the simplest one that does the job. Each step up decides more on its own, and holds more of your keys.
Your turn: answering enquiries, chasing payments, posting on Instagram. Chatbot, workflow, or agent? Tell me in the comments.
I'm OC. Follow so you don't miss what's next.