Day 1

A Zapier Zap that watches your Gmail for new emails, sends each one through an AI extraction prompt, and logs the sender, subject, and a one-line summary to Google Sheets — automatically.

What Is AI Automation?

AI automation means connecting an AI model to your existing apps so that work happens without you initiating it. Zapier handles the routing and connections; the AI handles the thinking.

Before AI, Zapier automations were mechanical: when X happens, copy it to Y. Add a spreadsheet row when a form is submitted. Send a Slack message when a payment lands. Fast, but dumb — they couldn't understand anything.

With AI in the middle, the pattern becomes: when X happens, understand it, then do the right thing. A new email arrives — and now the automation reads it, extracts the key information, decides if it needs action, and routes it accordingly. That's the shift from automation to intelligent automation.

Set Up Zapier + AI Connection

You need two accounts. Both have free tiers that cover everything in this course.

Build: Email → AI Extract → Google Sheets

In Zapier, click + Create Zap. You'll see a canvas with Trigger and Action blocks. Here's exactly what to build:

Trigger: Gmail — New Email. Click the Trigger block, search for "Gmail," choose New Email as the event. Connect your Google account. To avoid processing every email you receive, create a label in Gmail called "AI-Process" and in Zapier, filter to only watch that label. You then drag emails you want processed to that label.

AI Step: OpenAI — Send Prompt. Click + to add a step. Search "OpenAI," choose Send Prompt (under ChatGPT/GPT-4). Connect your API key. In the prompt field, write:

Extract the following from this email. Return JSON only, no other text:
{
  "sender_name": "full name or Unknown",
  "sender_company": "company or Unknown",
  "needs_reply": "yes or no",
  "summary": "one sentence max"
}

Email:
{{body_plain}}

The {{body_plain}} is a Zapier variable — it inserts the actual email text from the trigger. Zapier's variable picker makes this point-and-click.

Action: Google Sheets — Create Spreadsheet Row. Add another step, choose Google Sheets, connect your account, and point it at a spreadsheet with columns: Date, Sender Name, Company, Needs Reply, Summary. Map the OpenAI JSON fields to each column using Zapier's formatter or the built-in JSON parser.

Go Further on Your Own

• Add a 4th step: if needs_reply is "yes," send yourself a Gmail draft with a suggested reply
• Modify the prompt to also extract a priority field: high/medium/low based on urgency signals in the email
• Change the trigger from Gmail to a Google Form submission — useful for contact form automations

Nice work. Keep going.

Day 2 is ready when you are.

Want live instruction and hands-on projects? Join the AI bootcamp — 3 days, 5 cities.

What's Next

The foundations from today carry directly into Day 2. In the next session the focus shifts to Day 2 — building directly on everything covered here.