Back to: Building AI Agents Without Coding: A Beginner’s Course
Project: Create an AI agent that helps with content creation – for example, a social media post generator that can draft Instagram captions or a blog outline assistant that suggests topics and outlines for posts. This agent will act as a creative assistant to speed up content work.
Approach: We’ll primarily use ChatGPT via its web interface (no coding needed), possibly combined with an automation tool to streamline the workflow. ChatGPT is very adept at content generation with the right prompts.
Steps to build a content assistant:
- Define the use case: Let’s say we want to help a student entrepreneur manage their small business’s social media. The AI agent should generate a caption and hashtags for a product photo. Another scenario: assisting with blog writing by generating an outline from a topic idea.
- Craft effective prompts for ChatGPT: Prompt design is key since we’re not coding but instructing the AI in plain language. For a social post, you might prepare a prompt like: “You are a social media assistant for a Sydney-based fashion boutique. Generate an engaging Instagram caption about our new summer collection, in a friendly tone, under 150 characters. Include a couple of trending hashtags relevant to fashion and Australia.” By providing context (Sydney, boutique, style, length, tone), you guide ChatGPT to produce a tailored result. Tip: You can include example outputs in the prompt if you want a specific style.
- Test the prompt in ChatGPT: Input your prompt and see the caption suggestions. If the result isn’t right (maybe too long or missing an Australian touch), refine the prompt. You might add instructions like “mention Sydney’s summer vibe” or “use Australian English spelling”.
- Automate the workflow (optional): If you want to generate content regularly or at scale, use a tool like Zapier or Make.com to automate it:
- For instance, in Zapier create a “Zap” where the trigger is “New row in Google Sheet” and an action is “Send prompt to ChatGPT (OpenAI) and get response”. Then another action could post the generated caption to an actual Instagram scheduling app (or just log it somewhere).
- This way, a non-technical user could simply fill new content ideas into a spreadsheet, and the AI agent automatically produces drafts for each.
- No code required: Zapier’s interface would have fields to fill in your prompt and it handles calling the AI in the background.
- Review and edit content: Emphasise that AI-generated content should be reviewed by a human. Check for factual accuracy (especially if it’s a blog outline, the AI might assert things that need verification) and ensure the tone/wording fits your brand or personal style. AI can save time by providing a first draft or ideas, but human judgment is needed to polish the final content.
- Expand capabilities: Once comfortable, you can use the same method for other content tasks. For example, use ChatGPT to brainstorm marketing ideas, write product descriptions, or even generate replies to customer reviews. Many Australian small businesses use AI tools like these to produce marketing copy and customer communications quickly– it’s a productivity booster, especially if you’re not confident in writing.
Ethical note: When using AI for content, be mindful of originality and bias. AI can sometimes inadvertently plagiarise phrases or reflect biases from its training data. Always check that the content is unique and appropriate for your audience. (In a later module, we’ll cover legal points like copyright – e.g., Australian law on who owns AI-generated content can be a gray area, so it’s best to use it as assistance rather than claiming the AI’s exact output as proprietary text.)