New release: fewer tokens & reliable AI

Link to Resources: https://thenextnewthing.ai/my-resources
Presented by Zapier: https://zapier.com/
Zapier X Post: https://x.com/zapier/status/21....02829768332767453?s=
Andrew Warner sits down with Zapier co-founder and CEO Wade Foster to show how Next Gen Zaps can make AI agents more reliable, reduce unnecessary token costs, and prevent agents from making expensive or unexpected mistakes.

Andrew shares two real-world examples of the problem: spending $264 in just two days because an AI agent repeatedly checked websites, and an agent that replaced his own video thumbnails in sponsor emails with thumbnails from other creators because it decided they would perform better. Wade explains how Next Gen Zaps solve this by combining deterministic automation with agentic decision-making, so agents can handle the parts that require judgment while predictable actions are “hardened” to run the same way every time.

Wade demonstrates the approach using a Granola-to-Google Drive workflow. The system checks for new meeting transcripts, uses AI to determine whether a transcript contains sensitive topics that should not be automatically shared, and then deterministically saves approved transcripts to Google Drive. He also walks through a fantasy football workflow that researches rosters, waiver wires, injuries, and trade opportunities, uses AI for the managerial decisions, and then sends Wade a consistent weekly report.

The episode breaks down exactly where AI should be probabilistic and creative—and where it should be deterministic, predictable, and locked down. Wade also explains how agentically managed workflows can recover from errors automatically, giving you the flexibility of AI without making every step dependent on an agent.

Links featured:

- Zapier — https://zapier.com/
- Zapier Next Gen Zaps / Early Access — http://zapier.com/workflow/early-access
- Zapier X Post: https://x.com/zapier/status/21....02829768332767453?s=

Timestamps:

00:00 Why AI Agents Make Expensive Mistakes
01:30 Introducing Zapier Next Gen Zaps
01:39 Granola + Google Drive Demo
02:24 Adding AI to a Deterministic Workflow
03:09 Deciding What Should Stay Private
03:54 How Next Gen Zaps Work Under the Hood
04:57 Why Deterministic Workflows Matter
05:42 Agentically Managed Workflows
06:45 Why Hardened Automation Is Useful
08:15 Fantasy Football AI Workflow
09:27 Using AI to Analyze a Fantasy League
10:48 Turning the Analysis Into a Weekly Workflow
12:00 The Weekly Waiver & Trade Report
13:30 What Is Agentic vs. Deterministic?
14:15 Where AI Makes the Decisions
15:18 What Goes Wrong Without Deterministic Rules?
16:30 Why Hardened Workflows Matter
16:48 How to Get Early Access

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