Editing AI Automation in My Workflow

When I first started experimenting with AI automation, it was just about writing scripts that could predict outcomes. But soon I realized the real power: letting AI take over repetitive workflows — email responses, lead qualification, content generation, daily reporting.

[[file:AI_Automation_in_My_Workflow.jpg|500px]]

Photo by Xu Haiwei on Unsplash

Here’s the step-by-step journey of how I turned small AI experiments into full-blown automation pipelines.

1) Setting Up the AI Automation Environment
I started by combining Python for logic and AI APIs for intelligence.
<pre>
mkdir ai-automation && cd ai-automation
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install openai schedule pandas smtplib
</pre>

2) Automating Email Responses With AI

Instead of answering routine inquiries, AI drafts my replies.
<pre>
import openai
import smtplib
from email.mime.text import MIMEText

openai.api_key = "YOUR_API_KEY"

def generate_reply(email_text):
    response = openai.Completion.create(
        model="text-davinci-003",
        prompt=f"Write a professional reply to: {email_text}",
        max_tokens=150
    )
    return response["choices"][0]["text"].strip()

def send_email(to, subject, body):
    msg = MIMEText(body)
    msg["Subject"] = subject
    msg["From"] = "bot@mydomain.com"
    msg["To"] = to
    
    with smtplib.SMTP("smtp.gmail.com", 587) as server:
        server.starttls()
        server.login("bot@mydomain.com", "APP_PASSWORD")
        server.sendmail("bot@mydomain.com", to, msg.as_string())

incoming = "Can you share the pricing details?"
reply = generate_reply(incoming)
send_email("client@example.com", "Re: Pricing Inquiry", reply)
</pre>

3) Automating Lead Qualification
AI helps me decide whether a lead is worth pursuing.
<pre>
def qualify_lead(lead_info):
    response = openai.Completion.create(
        model="gpt-3.5-turbo",
        prompt=f"Classify this lead as 'hot', 'warm', or 'cold': {lead_info}",
        max_tokens=20
    )
    return response["choices"][0]["text"].strip()

lead = "CEO of mid-sized software company looking for AI consulting"
print("Lead Score:", qualify_lead(lead))
</pre>

4) Automating Daily P&L Reports
Instead of crunching numbers manually, AI and Python summarize my trading results.

<pre>
import pandas as pd
from datetime import datetime

df = pd.read_csv("trades.csv")

summary = df.groupby("symbol").agg({
    "profit": "sum",
    "volume": "sum"
}).reset_index()

summary.to_csv(f"daily_report_{datetime.now().date()}.csv", index=False)
print("✅ Report Generated")
</pre>

5) Automating Content Generation
AI now helps me generate blog drafts, captions, and even code snippets.
<pre>
def generate_content(topic):
    response = openai.Completion.create(
        model="gpt-3.5-turbo",
        prompt=f"Write a LinkedIn post about {topic}",
        max_tokens=200
    )
    return response["choices"][0]["text"].strip()

print(generate_content("AI in small business automation"))
</pre>

6) Automating Data Cleaning
AI can clean and normalize datasets before I even analyze them.
<pre>
raw_data = "Customer names: J. Smith, John Smith, Jon Smyth"
response = openai.Completion.create(
    model="text-davinci-003",
    prompt=f"Clean and standardize this data: {raw_data}",
    max_tokens=100
)
print(response["choices"][0]["text"].strip())
</pre>

7) Automating Social Media Scheduling

With AI-generated captions and a scheduler, my social accounts run themselves.
<pre>
import schedule, time

def post_to_social():
    caption = generate_content("AI tips for entrepreneurs")
    print("📢 Posting:", caption)

schedule.every().day.at("10:00").do(post_to_social)

while True:
    schedule.run_pending()
    time.sleep(60)
</pre>

8) Combining All Into a Single AI Automation Pipeline
Now, I have a master script that:
* 		Replies to emails
* 		Qualifies leads
* 		Generates P&L reports
* 		Writes social posts
And it runs daily on autopilot.

Final Thoughts

AI automation has moved me from working in my business to working on my business.
* 		Emails don’t drain me
* 		Leads are filtered before they reach me
* 		Reports are always ready
* 		Social media runs on autopilot
And the best part? Each automation I add makes the whole system smarter.

Read the full article here: https://ai.plainenglish.io/ai-automation-in-my-workflow-55c45e45f734