Most people lump everything into “AI automation.” That’s why their workflows break and their quality tanks. Before asking “How much can I automate?”, ask one question: Who owns what? There are 3 distinct levels of AI leverage: 1. AI Assist (You are the driver) • AI researches, drafts, and challenges your thinking. • It suggests, but you decide where to steer. • Your Job: Direct & Judge. 2. Traditional Automation (You build the train tracks) • Trigger ➔ Action: "If new lead lands ➔ enrich data ➔ send notification." • The system follows fixed instructions. • Your Job: Design & Approve. 3. AI Agents (You set the destination & guardrails) • You define the goal, tools, and constraints. • The agent figures out the intermediate steps. • Your Job: Govern & Intervene. Notice the pattern? The human never disappears. Your job just shifts upstream. If you run a 1-person AI-native team, you can suddenly have: → Competitor research running in the background → Content getting prepped → Leads routing automatically → Agents optimizing campaigns Massive leverage. But also massive liability if you don’t manage control. Don't start with tools. Map who owns what first: - Where does AI assist? - Where does automation execute? - Where does an agent get autonomy? You don't need to do every task. But you still own the outcome.

Bending spoon is the large software holding company that buys legacy tech brands and reorganizes them - think Eventbrite, Vimeo, Meetup.com What's the implication for how our workflows will be impacted when Bending Spoons undoubtedly reprices Airtable? Curous what @Stephen G. Pope has to say!