The highest immediate ROI from AI agents comes from creating a better user experience for managing personal tasks and information. The most-used agent was a simple, interactive to-do list, suggesting the power of agents as a superior personal UI is more valuable initially than complex system automation.
To discover high-value AI use cases, reframe the problem. Instead of thinking about features, ask, "If my user had a human assistant for this workflow, what tasks would they delegate?" This simple question uncovers powerful opportunities where agents can perform valuable jobs, shifting focus from technology to user value.
A single, context-aware AI assistant with access to various APIs will replace dozens of specialized apps for tasks like fitness tracking, to-do lists, or flight check-ins. Users will interact conversationally with their assistant, rendering most single-purpose apps redundant.
The emergence of personal AI assistants that can be integrated with private data (email, Slack) and execute tasks (send emails, build CRMs) represents a new paradigm. This moves AI from a passive research tool to an active, autonomous agent capable of performing complex knowledge work, fundamentally changing productivity.
The key product innovation of Agent Skills is changing the user's perception of AI. Instead of just a tool that answers questions, AI becomes a practical executor of defined workflows, making it feel less like a chat interface and more like powerful, responsive software.
The AI industry fixated on consumer agent demos like booking flights. Moltbot's viral adoption reveals the more impactful immediate use case is integrating with the operating system to perform fundamental computer tasks like research, file generation, and reporting. This OS-level utility is proving more valuable than single-purpose consumer actions.
The most effective application of AI isn't a visible chatbot feature. It's an invisible layer that intelligently removes friction from existing user workflows. Instead of creating new work for users (like prompt engineering), AI should simplify experiences, like automatically surfacing a 'pay bill' link without the user ever consciously 'using AI.'
Don't get distracted by flashy AI demonstrations. The highest immediate ROI from AI comes from automating mundane, repetitive, and essential business functions. Focus on tasks like custom report generation and handling common customer service inquiries, as these deliver consistent, measurable value.
Tasklet, a platform for automating recurring tasks, found a surprising user behavior: most messages are for ad-hoc, one-off requests. Users invest time creating a highly-contextualized agent for automation, then leverage that same smart agent for immediate, chat-based assistance, making chat the dominant interaction model.
The most powerful automations are not complex agents but simple, predictable workflows that save time reliably. The goal is determinism; AI introduces a "black box" of uncertainty. Therefore, the highest ROI comes from extremely linear processes where "boring is beautiful" and predictability is guaranteed.
The paradigm shift with AI agents is from "tools to click buttons in" (like CRMs) to autonomous systems that work for you in the background. This is a new form of productivity, akin to delegating tasks to a team member rather than just using a better tool yourself.