Zapier’s AI Automation Spectrum: From Rule-Based to Fully Agentic Workflows

Last Friday, Julie went deep into AI automation with Zapier’s Head of Enterprise Innovation, Philip Lakin. We’re talking full-day deep dive on Zapier’s latest AI features, and now we’re bringing the highlights to you.

At the heart of it all? The AI Automation Spectrum. Phil’s framework for understanding how AI can level up your workflows, from simple, deterministic task automation to fully autonomous, AI-driven agents. Whether you’re just getting started or ready to hand the reins to an AI-powered assistant, this model shows exactly how to scale up your automation game, one step at a time.

🔧 Level 1: Basic Workflow (Determinism)

This is your classic automation: linear, rule-based, and totally predictable. Zapier has historically been known for it’s ease of use when setting up these deterministic workflows.

What it looks like:

• Trigger: New lead

• Action 1: Send SMS

• Action 2: Add to CRM

✅ It’s the fastest way to ditch copy-paste work and prove automation ROI. You’ll also lay clean data trails that later AI steps can feed on.
💡 Best for: Tasks where the steps are fixed.

✨ Level 2: AI Workflow

Now we’re adding a bit of brains (AI) to the mix with a largely deterministic backbone. We have one or two AI-powered “booster” steps, think language generation, image tagging, or sentiment analysis.

What it looks like:

• Trigger: New lead

• AI Step: Write a personalized message

• Action 1: Send SMS

• Action 2: Add to CRM

🤖 Still low-code, but you’ll manage API keys, prompt design, and maybe a retry/timeout strategy.
💡 Best for: Adding personalization in one spot without overhauling your whole process.

🧠 Level 3: “Agentic” Workflow

AI takes a more active role throughout the process, with multi-step reasoning. It gathers context, reasons at each step, and influences what happens next.

What it looks like:

• Trigger: New lead

• AI Steps:

  • Search the web for company

  • Analyze and score company for fit

  • Decide if the company is a good fit

  • Write message

• Actions 1,2,3: Slack notification → Send SMS → Add to CRM

🧩 Branching: the next step can change based on what the AI just learned or decided.
💡 Best for: More complex decision-making at each step. It requires memory or shared context throughout the workflow, letting each touchpoint build on the last.

🤖 Level 4: Full Agent (Inference Mode)

The most autonomous level. At this stage, AI ingests multiple inputs and decides which actions (and how many) to run.

What it looks like:

• Trigger: New leads and new emails

• AI uses:

  • Knowledge – facts, data and long-term memory an agent can reference.

  • Instructions – system prompts, guardrails and success metrics

  • Tools – external actions the agent can call

• Outputs: It decides whether to send an SMS, update the CRM, reply, or take another action.

🧠 The AI is now an active decision-maker with the ability to interpret, reason, and act.
💡 Best for: Teams ready to hand over decision-making to AI for routine or high-volume tasks.

🛠️ TL;DR: Start Small, Build Smart

You don’t have to go full “robot CEO” tomorrow. The real magic of this spectrum? It gives teams permission to start where they are. Begin with simple, rule-based workflows. Layer in AI one step at a time. And if you’re feeling bold (or buried under leads/emails), start exploring the agentic frontier.

We started Her AI Drop with one goal: to make AI less intimidating and way more useful for women, whether you're a founder, freelancer, side hustler, or climbing the corporate ladder. Because this tech shouldn’t just be for the “move fast and break things” crowd. Requests, ideas, spicy feedback? Questions about AI we should address? We’re all ears.

💌 Email us anytime at [email protected] 
📣 Know someone who should be reading this? Forward it their way. Let’s get more women using AI with confidence, clarity, and zero overwhelm.

Warm vibes & workflow wins,
Katie and Julie

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