I call them AI employees because every business owner already knows how to hire, train and manage a person. The same steps work here.

What is an AI employee built from?

An AI employee in Claude is put together from a few pieces:

  • A skill that holds the written steps for the job
  • A Claude Project that holds your company's files and instructions
  • Connectors that let it reach your tools, like Gmail or your CRM
  • A scheduled task that runs it at a set time
  • An artifact when the output is a page or dashboard you keep open

What are the four levels of an AI employee?

Each level adds one thing, the same way a new hire grows into the role. The contractor knows how to do the job but nothing about you. The trained employee knows your business. The connected employee can reach your tools. The autonomous employee runs on a schedule while you're at dinner. The full breakdown is on the AI employee page.

What does an AI employee look like in a business?

One example is the AI bookkeeper I built for my dad's business, Carolina Wood Carvings. It reads his chart of accounts, vendor list and past expenses, codes anything it's 90% sure about and flags the rest. On its last run it coded 187 transactions and he reviewed 14.

Is an AI employee the same as an AI agent?

In practice, yes. Agents, employees, same thing. It's all a task. I go into why on AI agent vs AI employee vs AI assistant.