On the Tech for Business podcast, the host talks with Kelsey, an AI operations coordinator, about the difference between automation and AI and why people confuse them. Kelsey explains that automation follows rules you provide while AI figures out the rules, using analogies like a dishwasher (automation) versus a cook (AI), and notes marketing has contributed by labeling many products as “AI.” They discuss when the distinction matters, focusing on outcomes, resource usage, and measuring impact through output quality and time saved rather than “using AI” as a goal. The episode covers where automation fits best (repetitive, predictable tasks) versus AI (judgment, messy inputs, agentic planning), and warns that adopting AI without documented processes and clean data can accelerate broken workflows, waste money, and create risk, emphasizing problem-fi ...