Where to Start With AI Automation Inside an Existing Business
Most useful AI automation is unglamorous: it removes a specific, repeated manual step. Here's how to find the right first one.
Engineering Notes · 5 min read
The best first AI automation project is rarely the most ambitious one. It's the task that is repetitive, well-defined, and already produces a paper trail — invoice data entry, document summarization, first-pass customer response drafting.
Look for work that currently requires a person to read something and extract or summarize information, since that's exactly what current LLMs are strongest at, and it's easy to validate whether the output is correct.
Design the first automation with a human reviewer in the loop by default. This builds trust in the system's output and gives you real data on accuracy before you consider removing that review step for lower-risk cases.
Measure time saved on the specific task, not a vague productivity claim, so you have a concrete basis for deciding what to automate next.
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