Building & Product

Should I put an AI agent in my product, or is a simple workflow enough?

A workflow follows steps you defined, with the model filling in the reasoning slots; an agent decides its own path with tools in a loop. Workflows are cheaper, faster and debuggable, and cover most real product needs (tagging, drafting, summarising, extracting); agents earn their complexity only when the path cannot be known in advance. OpenAI and Anthropic say the same in their guides: start simple, add autonomy when a measured need appears. When you do need one, OpenAI's Agents API (also on Amazon Bedrock) runs the loop, sandbox and computer use for you.

Part of AI agents on eChai Explore.

On the AI map, 29 October 2026 Frontier models Open-weight models Decision models

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20 resources.

📄 Article

Everything OpenAI launched for builders on 29 September 2026, including computer use in the Agents API and the Decisions API.

DevDay 2026 Recap

OpenAI Sep 2026

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AI Agent

More in AI in Your Product

Should my startup add AI features, and which ones actually matter to users? 21 → How do founders ship their first AI feature (APIs, wrappers, RAG in plain terms)? 21 → How much does it cost to run AI features, and how do I keep costs sane? 22 → Which AI model should I build on (GPT, Claude, Gemini, open-source), and how do I avoid locking myself in? 20 → How do I test whether my AI feature actually works before launch (evals, in plain terms)? 18 → How do I stop my AI feature from making things up in front of customers? 17 → Prompt engineering, RAG, or fine-tuning: which one does my product actually need? 18 → How do I design AI features people trust (chat vs buttons, streaming, showing the work)? 18 → What is my moat if I'm building on someone else's model? 19 → Is it safe to send customer data to AI APIs, and what about privacy laws like India's DPDP Act? 18 → How should I price AI features: per seat, per use, or per outcome? 20 → My AI feature is live. How do I monitor it and make it better with real usage? 18 → What is RAG in AI? 6 → How do I get an API key for OpenAI or Gemini? 6 →

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The same ground, over in Build the product, our Starting Up track.

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