Automation Dev Logs: AI Kindergarten

Ahhh aren’t they cute! No. No my AI abominations are not cute.

I’ve got the first two agents standing up.

I should be excited about that.

I’m not.

These automations are no more AGI than I’m a rabbit rancher.

Dreams and Duct Tape

My first two “agents” of the swarm are now working. They can prospect a niche via keyword research, they can register a domain, change name servers, generate logos, a colour palette, and actually build a passable directory site.

That all sounds good, and I guess in principle it is.

But it doesn’t feel like AI.

Granted a chunk of it is using AI (LLMs), but when I scan through the thing it still reads like “a bunch of nested logic a guy wired together which regularly uses LLMs to fill in blanks”.

When I started this challenge I dreamed of truly autonomous AI agents; of focusing on the deep philosophy of the thing. Coupling together modern tools and feeding them slowly honed prompts of ultimate power.

Turns out We’re Still Early.

I’ve not given up on that dream, but the ride is pretty lumpy.

As you can tell from the frothy AI news carnival, things are developing fast. Bit by bit, I think we’ll get there.

But for now….as I write this, in the background I’m re-running through the whole flow from start to finish for the six thousandth time. The repetition is maddening.

Here’s What’s Working

Agent/Workflow 1 – Directory Prospector: Fully Working

This thing is cool. It takes a single keyword/idea and does a bunch of research. The domain prospecting is working really well.

At the end of this workflow it adds an item to my Human Queue, this lets me have a last check that it’s not about to register an abysmal domain name.

Agent 2 – Directory Builder: Fully Working

After I approve the domain name choice my new proto-manager agent kicks off the next workflow, and in short order it:

• Registers the domain name
• Points the DNS to my servers
• Notifies me via Human Queue 👋 (you need to set up hosting bits)
• Generates 5 brand logo ideas
• Picks a colour palette
• Defines SEO basics
• Notifies me via Human Queue 👋 (choose a logo!)
• Creates OG Meta sharing images
• Does its best to retrieve initial listings (patchy)
• Notifies me via Human Queue 👋 (are these initial listings okay?)
• Builds out the site

… this actually looks like 4 workflows in Make, ran in sequence, pausing between them when it’s waiting for human input.

Good aspects of this setup:

• Proto-manager agent works well to navigate the flows
• Modularising actions speeds up workflow dev
• Human queue for approvals
• Swarm memory via Project File
• Business API ring-fencing value/control
• Make.com as a workflow/agent container

But it definitely doesn’t feel like a chat with a super intelligent co-worker…yet.

Here’s What I Don’t Like About it

It doesn’t feel like AI.

Is this because of the way I’ve approached this? Am I still assuming too much control? Is this just the ‘setup’ phase?

This week I’ve been questioning myself and this challenge.

• It’s still taking a lot of human setup & testing
• Fair amount of code behind the scenes (Business API) – I’d love if this could be more fluid AI-managed logic
• Pretty much nonexistant version control for prompts
• First experiment has taken me almost 4 months

I will persevere, but if you have any feedback I’d love to hear how you’re finding the journey so far.

Agents vs Workflow

I guess the point is: AI augmented automations (workflows) are achievable today. Self organising swarms of AI persona’s are not.

So it’s duct tape for now, until we build the tools which will make this fully attainable.

I will aim to use the agent term less; I think it’s been overused.

What’s Next

In this experiment I hope to craft the building blocks of some juicier AI business endeavours. (Proto-manager, lots of modular tools, and the knowledge / systems to duct tape wire it all together.)

After I tune the above I’m going to start work on AI marketing and customer service.

I want to get back to thinking bigger than flows.

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What do you think – is it just too early to expect more from AI? What are you automating – does it feel like AI? Let me know in the comments.