AI Agents & Automation
AI receptionists, workflow automation and keeping people in charge, explained without the hype.
AI Receptionists and Voice Agents: What They Can and Can't Do
What AI voice agents can handle for a small business, where they fall short, how to design handoffs, and what the FCC and FTC have said about AI on calls.
6 min read →Human in the Loop: Keeping People in Charge of AI Agents
How to design escalation, review and takeover for AI agents, using concepts from the voluntary NIST AI Risk Management Framework.
6 min read →Small Business Workflow Automation: Triggers, Actions and Guardrails
The building blocks of business workflow automation, where AI steps fit, and the access, input and data guardrails that prevent costly mistakes.
6 min read →Chatbots, AI Agents and Automations: The Plain-English Differences
How rule-based automations, chatbots and AI agents differ in predictability, flexibility and risk, and how to choose the right one for a task.
5 min read →Making Honest Claims About AI: What the FTC Expects
How FTC advertising rules apply to AI claims, what recent FTC actions targeted, and a checklist for businesses, agencies and resellers.
6 min read →How to Tell if an AI Agent Is Working: Metrics That Matter
How to measure an AI agent with call outcomes, transcript reviews, handoff tracking and customer feedback, and when to pause it.
5 min read →