Zapier / Make: three AI automations worth building first

By Jason Sibley

What this is for, and who it's for

This is for anyone who already uses (or is considering) Zapier or Make.com to connect their tools together, and wants to know specifically where AI adds value rather than just adding complexity. Both platforms now build AI directly into their automation builders — Zapier calls this "AI by Zapier" (with agentic steps that can call tools autonomously), and Make offers the Make AI Toolkit alongside its Make AI Agent app. You do not need to become an automation expert to get value here. You need three well-chosen starting points.

What people get wrong

They try to build one enormous "do everything" automation first. Both platforms explicitly recommend starting with AI steps in specific places rather than trying to hand a whole proce