It is Monday morning and you have three customer enquiries, a stack of documents and a list of jobs to follow up. An AI agent might help you pull the information together, spot what is missing and prepare a first draft. You still decide what to do with it.
That is an imagined example, but the work will feel familiar to many people. Whether an agent can actually see your emails, files or calendar depends on the product you use and the access you give it. Start with one task and find out what is useful before trying to automate everything.
Where could an agent help?
Think about the work around the job itself. A small business might use an assistant to read enquiries, pull the important details into a list and draft questions for a customer. Someone who works with reports might ask it to compare figures from several files and highlight anything that needs a closer look.
Other possibilities include preparing a meeting agenda from notes, researching suppliers, organising a project checklist or turning a long document into a first draft of a summary. These are possibilities, not promises: tools, access and the quality of the source material all make a difference.
Try one task from beginning to end
Suppose you have three supplier offers. You could give the agent copies and ask it to compare what is included, the quoted prices, delivery dates and any conditions. Ask it to point to the relevant passage in each offer and say when something is missing.
When the table comes back, check a few entries against the original offers. In particular, make sure the prices use the same basis: one may include tax, delivery or installation while another does not. A tidy table can hide an uneven comparison.
Give it a useful brief
You do not need a long technical instruction. Say what you want to achieve, which material it may use and what you expect to receive. It also helps to say what it should do if information is missing. You could adapt this:
Compare the three offers I have provided. Show the price, what is included, the delivery date and any conditions in a table. Point me to the relevant passage for each entry. If something is unclear or missing, say so rather than guessing. Prepare the comparison for my review; do not contact suppliers or place an order.
Adjust the task to your work. Our prompt builder can help put the request together, but you can just write it in your own words.
Files, email and other connections
Some assistants work with files you attach. Others can connect to services such as storage, email or a calendar. Check the access screen and the provider’s current documentation: a feature available in one product or plan may not be available in another.
Reading a document, drafting a reply and sending that reply are different things. Decide which information is needed and which actions you want to approve. For a first test, a copy or fictional sample can be enough. If you connect an account, review the scope of access and remove the connection later if you no longer need it.
What about customer information?
Before uploading anything, consider what is in it: names, contact details, prices, contracts or other confidential information. Leave out details the task does not need. Check your organisation’s rules and the provider’s terms and privacy settings, including how data is stored, used and deleted. If the information belongs to a customer or another organisation, consider your obligations to them too.
Those questions depend on the service and your situation. For sensitive or regulated work, get appropriate advice before deciding what to share.
Keep control of important actions
An agent can misunderstand an instruction, miss a detail or use outdated information. It can also produce a confident answer when it is uncertain. Ask it to show its sources, then open the relevant documents and check the points that matter.
For example, you might be happy for an agent to prepare an email, but want to check the recipient and wording before it is sent. The same goes for purchases, payments, changes to important files and decisions that affect customers. Agree on the boundary before it starts, and check what approval controls the product actually offers.
What will it cost?
That depends on the service. A subscription may include certain features or limits; some products charge for usage, connected tools or additional users. Check the current plan and any usage limits before relying on a process. Also allow time for setup, reviewing results and correcting mistakes. If a task is quicker to do yourself, that is useful to know too.
When a simple process is enough
If you always need the same figures copied into the same template, a spreadsheet or fixed workflow may already do the job. An agent may be more useful when the information or next steps vary. Our guide to agents and workflows looks at the difference.
Try the task with a small sample, compare the result with what you would have done yourself, and adjust the instructions where it falls short. If it saves time without creating more checking than it removes, you have found a useful place to start.
Further reading
OpenAI: A practical guide to building agents looks at tools, instructions and controls. The NIST AI Risk Management Framework provides a broader framework for managing AI risks.
Continue with what an agent can access and do or how to check an AI answer.