Using AI to perform tasks that previously required human intervention. This ranges from simple automation (auto-categorizing emails, generating reports) to complex autonomous workflows (AI agents that research, write, test, and deploy code). The key shift from traditional automation (rigid rules) to AI automation (flexible intelligence) is that AI can handle ambiguous, unstructured tasks.
Why it matters
Automation is the economic engine of AI adoption. Every enterprise buying AI is really buying automation — fewer humans doing repetitive work, faster processing, 24/7 operation. The question isn't whether AI will automate tasks, but which tasks, how fast, and what happens to the humans who used to do them.