Gusto introduces “AI Teammate” for small and medium-sized businesses

Gusto has launched Gusto Cofounder, a new artificial intelligence tool (which the company calls “AI Teammate”) built specifically for small and medium-sized businesses.

Unlike other AI tools that start with a blank prompt, Cofounder starts with a business context, Gast says. Co-founders live inside Gusto and already know the business owner’s team, payroll schedule, calendar, and how the business is run. No setup required, ready to use.

“Gusto co-founders don’t wait to be asked. Gusto co-founders already understand your business, take initiative on important tasks, and work with you through the communication channels you already use, while you maintain control through permissions and approvals,” Gusto co-founder and head of technology Edward Kim said in a June 2 blog post about co-founders.

“Gusto Cofounder is built to automate repetitive tasks across connected tools, catch potential issues, and flag what’s going on so you can focus on what you need most,” he added. “Automation is the heart and soul of Gusto co-founders and can be customized to fit your unique business needs.”

This works with a simple human prompt like this:

• “Run your payroll every Friday. Please text me if there are any abnormalities greater than 10% from the previous week’s payroll. Please flag any that require my approval before submission.”
• “I create weekly labor cost reports for each department and send them to me via Slack every Monday morning.”
• “Every morning, we check the weather and if it’s forecast to rain, we email today’s customers a reminder to bring an umbrella on their tour. They appear in Google Sheets with a title for today’s date.”

Co-founders can be accessed via SMS, Slack, or the web from any job site, kitchen, or even the front seat of a truck, Gast says.

“The most important AI products for small businesses will not come from companies that talk about AI. They will come from companies that build them in parallel to the work that their owners do,” Kim wrote. “That’s what Gusto is about. That’s what Gusto co-founders are made for.”

To join Gusto’s early access program, visit gusto.com/cofounder.