- AI-First Business by Jeff Sauer
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- Forget agents - integrations are where it’s at right now
Forget agents - integrations are where it’s at right now
Jeff Sauer
October 04, 2025
In partnership with
The integration era is beating AI agents
Everyone's obsessing over AI agents.
"Build an agent! Automate everything! The future is here!"
Meanwhile, I'm watching something way more interesting happen right under our noses.
The Integration Era
Agents sound cool in theory. Connect all the dots, automate your entire workflow, sit back, and watch the magic happen.
Reality? You need MCP servers, custom automations, and endless logic chains. Still tons of work. Still breaking constantly.
But integrations? That's where the real magic is happening right now.
The Riverside Revelation
Perfect example: Riverside.fm just blew my mind.
Started as simple podcast recording software. Then they added clip creation. Then transcripts. Then summaries.
Now they're integrating Google's Veo-3 for AI-generated B-roll footage.
Think about that workflow transformation:
Before:
Record in Riverside
Download files
Buy B-roll from a stock video provider (expensive)
Import everything into editing software
Piece it all together
Render the video and publish
Now:
Record → Everything happens inside Riverside → Done.
One platform. Zero file shuffling. No expensive stock footage.
The Pattern Is Everywhere
Canva + ChatGPT for instant image generation.
Notion + AI for smart note-taking.
Gmail + AI for email drafting.
With integrations, the major workhorse LLMs (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini) stay in their lane as the AI engines.
The magic happens when software companies are integrating them seamlessly into tools that already work.
Why This Beats Agents (for now)
Agents require you to become a systems architect. Integrations just... work.
You don't need to build anything. Maintain anything. Debug anything.
The software you already use just gets superpowers.
The Real Winner
I'm not anti-agent. When AI can build and maintain agents for us? Game over.
But right now, integrations are delivering immediate value while agents are still promising future value.
I'll take immediate wins over future promises every time.
The integration era isn't coming. It's here.
And it's way more useful than anyone's talking about.
To Your Integrated Success,
Jeff Sauer
P.S. What's your favorite AI integration you've discovered lately? Hit reply and let me know - always looking for new tools that just work.
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