Choose between a chatbot, copilot, automation, or AI agent for a task
Recommends the right kind of AI setup for a task, with the trade-offs, risks, and what you need to make it work.
The prompt
Help me choose the right type of AI for a task.
The task or process: [WHAT IT IS, step by step]
How often and how much: [e.g. "20 times a day", "once a month"]
How predictable it is: [same steps every time / some variation / different every time]
Systems involved: [e.g. Outlook, Excel, CRM, ticketing system]
What actions it involves: [reading, drafting, deciding, updating records, sending, paying]
Cost of a mistake: [LOW / MEDIUM / HIGH and why]
Tools and skills available: [e.g. "Microsoft 365 Copilot", "Power Automate or Zapier", "no developers"]
Compare these options against my task:
- Chat assistant - I ask, it drafts, I copy and act.
- Copilot inside my apps - AI helps within the tools I already use, I stay in control.
- Rule-based automation - fixed steps triggered automatically, little or no AI judgment.
- AI agent - plans and takes actions across tools with some autonomy.
Return:
1. A comparison table: Option | Fit for this task (1-5) | Effort to set up | Risk | Human oversight needed.
2. Recommendation - one option, or a combination (e.g. automation for routing plus a copilot for drafting), with the reason.
3. Why not the others - one line each.
4. What it takes - access, data, approvals, and skills needed.
5. Start small - a first version to pilot, and the signal that it is ready to scale.
Prefer the simplest option that works. Do not recommend an agent where rules or a human with a copilot would do the job reliably.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Working with AI prompts
What to fill in
- WHAT IT IS, step by step
- e.g. "20 times a day", "once a month"
- same steps every time / some variation / different every time
- e.g. Outlook, Excel, CRM, ticketing system
- LOW / MEDIUM / HIGH and why
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the Few-Shot structure (Few-shot prompting). A few-shot prompt includes one or more worked examples of the input and the output you want, so the model can copy the pattern instead of guessing it.
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