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When it comes to business automation, Zapier is undoubtedly one of the most well-recognized names, counting more than 2.2 million lifetime customers, according to its website, thanks to its ability to set up workflows across more than 6,000 third-party workplace applications.
Now, the company wants to make it even easier for said customers (and new ones) to set up automated services, launching Zapier Central, an ���AI workspace” that allows customers to build AI agents that leverage its many connected apps and services, using natural language alone — no coding required.
Build-a-bot
These AI “bots,” as Zapier calls them, are customized with the users’ data and preferences. Similar to OpenAI’s custom GPT Builder and Hugging Face’s Hugging Chat Assistants introduced previously, a user of Zapier Central can simply describe in text what they want their AI bot to do and it will try to do it for them.
Unlike those other aforementioned direct-to-consumer tools, Zapier Central includes more fields allowing users to specify a “trigger,” that initiates the bot’s behaviors, a “trigger phrase” that can deploy it when typed by the user, and the “actions” the bot can perform, as well as which additional apps and services it has access to.
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Already, some users are trying it and posting their results, as seen in the following post on X from tech investor and writer Ben Tossell.
Mike Knoop, Zapier co-founder and head of its AI division until recently, called the launch of Zapier Central a “new era of AI Automation” in a post on X.
A surprise acqui-hire, too
The company further announced today that it has acqui-hired the team behind Vowel, a defunct videoconference app, and appointed its former CEO Andrew Berman as the new director of AI at Zapier.
Sheryl Soo, Zapier’s SVP of New Products and Head of Strategy, emphasized the significance of this move, stating, “The acquisition of Vowel enhances our AI capabilities and furthers our mission of democratizing AI and automation for businesses.”