Look it up for you
Who is rostered on Saturday in Deputy? What is the status of an invoice in Xero? Ask in the channel and the answer comes back in the thread.
An AI employee that finishes the job
An AI employee takes a job from a person and does it in the team's own tools. Toby is an AI employee for Slack and Microsoft Teams. It breaks the job into steps, finishes it in the tools you connect and posts the result in the thread. Hosted in Australia.
Start with 2,000 free credits. No card, no sales call. Starter is $25 a month after that.
What an AI employee takes on
Give it one job at a time. These are the kinds of work Toby handles, each tied to a tool you can connect.
Read the long thing
A Jira ticket with a long comment trail, a GitHub pull request or an email chain in Outlook. Toby gives you the short version.
Write the first version
Release notes from this week's merged pull requests, a meeting page in Notion, a reply in Outlook. You see the draft first.
Keep a record current
Add a note to a HubSpot record after a call. Toby shows you the note and adds it once you press Approve.
Run the same job on the same day
A morning inbox summary on weekdays, a sprint round-up on Fridays, a roster summary on Sundays. Name the day and the channel.
Work in two tools at once
Before a renewal call, Toby lists the customer's open invoices from Xero next to the contact and company record from HubSpot.
How you hand an AI employee its first job
Treat it like a capable new starter. Small first job, clear finish, then more.
Pick one job with a clear finish
A weekly report or a morning summary is easier to judge than “help with sales”.
Ask in plain English
Message Toby in a channel it is in, the way you would message a colleague. Or mention it in a thread where the work is already being discussed.
Check the first result
Read it against what you already know. Correct it and ask again.
Put it on a schedule
Once the result is right, give Toby a time and it runs the job without being asked again.
One morning in a Slack channel
Three requests to an AI employee in #ops, in the order a team might send them.
Dana
@Toby what needs a reply in my inbox today?
Toby
Two emails need you. Fernbrook Logistics wants a date for the revised quote, and Corner Hardware asked for a call about delivery.
Dana
@Toby add a note to Corner Hardware in HubSpot: asked for a call about delivery, I will ring on Thursday.
Toby
Here is the note for Corner Hardware: “Asked for a call about delivery. Dana will ring on Thursday.” Add it in HubSpot?
Add note to Corner Hardware in HubSpotApproveReject
Toby
Note added to Corner Hardware.
Dana
@Toby post this inbox summary here every weekday at 8:00.
Toby
Done. Every weekday at 8:00 I will post what arrived overnight and what needs you first.
AI employee, chatbot or automation tool
Three kinds of software, three ways of getting work done. Products vary, so test one against a real job.
| Chatbot | Automation tool | AI employee | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How you give it work | You type a question | You build the steps first | You ask in plain English |
| What comes back | An answer or a draft for you to act on | The same steps, run each time | The finished job, posted in the thread |
| When things change | You carry on by hand | It can stop or fail | It needs a clear job and a person to check the result |
| Where it lives | A chat window | A flow builder | Slack or Microsoft Teams |
What it costs
A person is paid for their time. Toby is priced by the work. Credits measure the model work behind a job, so a quick question in a thread costs very little and a scheduled job that reads three systems costs more.
Start with 2,000 free credits. No card, no sales call. Starter is $25 a month after that. A person still owns every result.
- One credit pool for the whole workspace, so nobody pays per seat
- Invite the rest of the team and the bill does not move
- Toby tells you in the thread before the credits run out
- Top up in a click, or move to a different amount from the dashboard
What you stay in charge of
You set the job
You say what Toby does and when. A person owns the result.
You choose which channels Toby can see
Add Toby to the channels where the work happens. It posts a short introduction when it arrives, so nobody wonders who joined.
You approve every connection by name
You name and approve every tool connection yourself before Toby can use it.
Toby asks before anything goes out under your name
Before it writes to a record or sends something, Toby shows Approve or Reject.
Common questions
What is an AI employee?
It is software that takes a job from a person and does it in the tools the team already uses, then reports back where the team talks. Unlike a chatbot, it finishes the task instead of describing it. A person stays in charge of the result.
Is an AI employee the same as a chatbot or an AI agent?
A chatbot answers a question and leaves the work with you. An AI employee takes the job, uses your connected tools to do it and posts the finished result in the thread. Toby is built as the second kind.
Is Toby a real employee?
No. It is software. It has no payroll and no contract, and someone on your team stays accountable for what it produces.
What does an AI employee cost?
It depends on the vendor. Some charge per seat and others share a pool of credits. With Toby you start with 2,000 free credits and no card. After that, Starter is $25 a month for the whole workspace.
What should I give an AI employee first?
One small job with a clear finish, such as a morning summary or a weekly report. Check the first result, correct it, then add a schedule.
Does Toby work in Microsoft Teams as well as Slack?
Yes. Toby works the same way in Slack and in Microsoft Teams. You mention it in a channel, it does the job in the thread, and one credit pool and one set of connected tools cover both.
Give your first AI employee a job.
Add Toby to Slack or Microsoft Teams, connect a tool if you want to and hand it something you keep putting off.
Start with 2,000 free credits. No card, no sales call. Starter is $25 a month after that.