Hey everyone, just wanted to chime in and build on what’s been said here, especially the point about not always needing AI for everything. I totally agree that sometimes you can achieve what you need with straightforward rules or automations rather than jumping straight into using AI. For example, another user here recently asked about using AI for matchmaking, and in that case, you can often just create your own criteria and let a script handle it without AI. That way, you’re not dealing with a black box and have more control. But I do see the appeal of using AI, as it might seem like a more approachable way to create an algorithm by using a prompt rather than a script.
Now, to answer the original post and share how I use it, when I do incorporate AI, I make sure to integrate it with scripting so I get the AI’s responses in JSON format. This is key: instead of just getting a blob of text, I get structured data with each task as a separate object. For example, when I’m working on development stories for clients, I feed in context from previous projects and examples so the AI knows how I typically structure tasks. It then automatically generates new tasks in JSON format, which I convert directly into Airtable records using a script. This means I’m not manually doing this each time, it’s all automated and continually improving as the AI learns from new data.
For more specific project management workflows, you could use a similar approach to generate project tasks directly from descriptions or meeting notes. If you’re using an AI meeting note taker, you could send those notes into Airtable and automatically create action items from them. Another use case is tagging or categorizing project data. AI can pull out the most relevant keywords or categories from large amounts of information, giving you a cleaner way to organize tasks. Those categories can also make your later prompts more effective, since you’re feeding the AI more focused and structured data to work with.
In short, it’s about being thoughtful, use AI where it genuinely adds value and rely on simpler automations when that’s all you need. You’re not missing out if you keep it simple where you can. Hope that helps!
