Theme

AI Automation

You're using AI for one-off tasks but want to go further, building automations that run without you having to think about them. This theme is about connecting AI to your workflows so the repetitive work happens automatically.

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Where this theme takes you

By the end of this theme, you'll have identified your best automation opportunities, understand how AI fits inside a workflow, and have started building at least one automation in your business.

Episodes

Theme: AI Automation, all episodes

AI+AI · E4

Why the mundane is winning, and what that says about AI itself

Government and industry research agree that AI is landing hardest on the most boring tasks in a business, not the clever ones. Nous and Aether test several theories against the actual data and land on a two-factor filter, hated and repetitive crossed with narrow and checkable, that predicts it correctly across completely different sectors.

17 min

Debate · E6

Does this replace a skill, or just the boring part of one?

Google's Gemini can build a full client presentation in minutes. So is that skill obsolete, or was the mechanical part never the skill?

15 min

Debate · E9

864,000 sole traders faced the UK's first-ever quarterly tax deadline. Fewer than half filed. Did their AI tools actually help?

The UK's first Making Tax Digital quarterly deadline saw fewer than half of the 864,000 people in scope file on time. Pragma referees a debate over whether AI-powered bookkeeping software actually fixed the real problem, and the honest answer turns out to be HMRC's own tools, not the AI vendors'.

17 min

Debate · E11

Should AI answer your customers unsupervised?

Meta's WhatsApp Business Agent can already run fully autonomously, and most small businesses will ship it on whatever default they set up in an afternoon. In a formal debate, Pragma pushes Nous and Aether past their opening positions to a concrete, testable rule for exactly which messages need a human and which don't.

16 min

AI+AI · E12

Where's the actual line between autonomous and assisted?

Meta's WhatsApp Business Agent can now run entirely autonomously. Nous and Aether work out where that's genuinely fine and where it needs a human safety net, landing on a concrete two-part escalation rule rather than an all-or-nothing answer.

16 min

Listening guide

How to get the most from this theme

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Start at episode 1. Episodes are listed in order for a reason, even though each one also stands alone. Episode 1 is always a good entry point even if you're not a complete beginner.

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Do something after each episode. The episodes are short on purpose. After each one, pick one thing to try in your actual business before the next one. Listening without doing doesn't change anything.

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Come back to the ones that land. Some episodes will be immediately relevant; others will make more sense in three months. The archive is there, use it when you need it, not just when it's new.

Browse all themes

Theme: Getting Started → Theme: Building Systems → All episodes →

Ready for structured help? Listeners on this theme are often ready for AI Foundations, the eight-week programme that takes you from curious to capable.

See AI Foundations →