What is an AI worker?
An AI worker is an AI agent set up to do one specific job on its own, unattended, on a schedule or a trigger, using the apps you connect to it.
A chatbot waits for you. A worker does not. Everything else about the category follows from that one difference.
AI assistant vs AI worker
| AI assistant | AI worker | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts | You type | A schedule or a trigger |
| Scope | Whatever you ask next | One specific job, written down |
| App access | The session's | Its own, granted per app at Off, Read or Write |
| Identity | Yours | Its own worker, its own key |
| Memory | The conversation | Facts and rules carried between runs |
| Output | An answer to read | Work done in your real accounts |
| Record | The transcript | A receipt per run |
The same line separates a worker from the things people install into an assistant: see AI plugin vs AI worker and Agent Skill vs worker kit.
What a real one looks like
Executive Daily Briefing connects calendar, email and tasks, runs on a schedule, and delivers a prioritised morning brief: meetings, urgent email, blockers, team chatter.
Nobody prompts it. The brief is simply there before the day starts. That is the whole distinction made concrete.
Three more, each a different shape:
| Worker | Apps | How it starts |
|---|---|---|
| Inbound Lead Qualifier | email, crm | An event, the moment a lead lands |
| Engineering Pulse | github | A morning schedule |
| Company Knowledge Concierge | drive, sharePoint | On demand, when asked |
Why the job has to be specific
"Handle my email" is not a job a worker can do. "When a lead replies to the outbound sequence, check the CRM for their stage, draft a reply in our voice, and leave it in drafts for me" is.
A narrow job has a definition of done, a small set of apps and a small set of ways to go wrong, so it can be tested and trusted. A vague one has none of those. This is why workers come in fleets: you do not build one worker that does everything, you put six narrow ones on six narrow jobs.
The three things an unattended job needs
Running without you is what creates the requirements a chat assistant never has:
- A written instruction that holds on the four hundredth run, not a prompt you improvise.
- Explicit app permissions, because it touches a real inbox while you sleep. Access is granted per app and per level, and can be narrowed or revoked at any time with the worker still running on what is left.
- Rules for what it may do: which contacts it may reach (contact rules), what must never leave (redaction).
Where a worker comes from
You do not assemble one from nothing. A worker kit is the package with all of it already written and tested by a publisher, so taking a kit mints a configured worker in your own account in about a minute. Browse the directory to see the catalog.
WorkerKit hosts the runs, so the worker follows its schedule with no machine of yours left running, and model tokens bill at the provider list price with no markup. Running a worker on your own machine or infrastructure is coming later.
When the answer is not a worker
The honest set of jobs is smaller than the enthusiasm suggests, and three tests decide it: a job should be repeatable, definable without the word "appropriate", and its mistakes should be recoverable.
| The job | Fails on | Use instead |
|---|---|---|
| One-off research | Repeatable | An assistant, now |
| Calculating an invoice total | Definable, but must be exact | Code |
| Negotiating a renewal | All three | A person |
| "Keep on top of my inbox" | Definable | Narrow it first, then reconsider |
| Anything sending money | Recoverable | A person, with a worker preparing it |
The pattern worth internalising: the job you most want gone is usually the one that fails all three, because the properties making it unpleasant, needing judgement and mattering when wrong, are the same ones making it a poor unattended candidate.
Start with something you are mildly indifferent to that happens daily. See what to automate first for the full argument.
FAQ
What is the difference between an AI agent and an AI worker?
An AI agent is the general category: a model that uses tools to pursue a goal. An AI worker is an agent set up to do one specific job unattended, on a schedule or a trigger, with its own key, its own app permissions and its own instruction. Some teams call this an agentic workflow.
Do I need to know how to code or prompt to run one?
No. The hard part of an unattended agent is the instruction, the access rules and the wiring, and a kit ships with all three already written and tested by its publisher. You connect the accounts it asks for and run it.
What can an AI worker see in my accounts?
Only what you grant it. Every kit states the apps it uses and the exact access it needs before you take it, you approve each connection yourself, and you can narrow or switch any of it off afterwards. A kit cannot reach an account you have not connected.
Where does an AI worker actually run?
On WorkerKit's hosted runtime, so it follows its schedule with no machine of yours left on. Running a worker on your own machine or infrastructure is coming later.
How much does it cost to run an AI worker?
The Free plan runs 5 workers with 500 tool calls a day and the complete safety layer, with no card and no expiry. Model tokens bill separately at the provider list price with no markup, from a wallet or your own key. See /pricing.