Over the last year, I’ve seen countless AI-SDRs and AI sales agents, and here’s the kicker—most of them are priced the same as a solid human employee. The biggest challenge for any SDR is finding the right contacts and building out sales campaigns. Usually, this means working with messy data, doing research, and using instincts. AI-SDRs try to automate this, but here’s the problem: they fix a problem that doesn’t really exist. Things like reading scripts, learning common objections, and making calls? Those are simple tasks. Voice AI? Still pretty bad. It doesn’t handle interruptions well, making conversations awkward. Honestly, any college student with a script and decent phone numbers would probably do better than an AI-SDR.
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Great insight. If you had to pick just one tool, which would you prefer the most?
Lior said:
Great insight. If you had to pick just one tool, which would you prefer the most?
I wouldn’t pick just one. I’d focus on automating the contact lookup process, testing different contact lists in my industry, and checking the phone numbers to see if they’re valid. Then I’d use Claude to help generate email campaigns with some advanced prompting.
Lior said:
Great insight. If you had to pick just one tool, which would you prefer the most?
You make your own. OP didn’t mention that they’re talking about market tools (which, if you have RPA experience, you can use well). Just get a server and build your own. It’s flawless. My company’s tools work because we’re not amateurs testing out random things.
Lior said:
Great insight. If you had to pick just one tool, which would you prefer the most?
It all depends if AI gets cheaper over time.
I totally agree. But AI could improve. The thing is, it could be good if prospects are contacted at the perfect time when they need something, saving them time. On the other hand, it could turn into another form of spam. The real value of AI right now is not replacing humans, but helping them. As a developer, AI tools make me faster and more efficient than ever before. It’s a game changer. It amplifies my experience. I believe the same goes for other professions. AI can help with research and routine tasks, but a human expert is still needed to guide it.
@Nevan
Exactly. A skilled SDR with a few assistants is still better than relying on AI alone.
@Nevan
Nice article! I agree that AI won’t replace developers, but those with strong problem-solving skills will be able to use AI to create amazing things. Do you think a talented beginner developer could get to the expert level faster with AI? Today, young developers can make apps that go viral, thanks to cloud tech and platforms like Android and iOS. That wasn’t possible before. AI could open up more opportunities for the next generation of innovators.
@Vance
Yes, developers can get to market faster, but market forces remain the same. You still need to focus on acquisition, viral strategies, A/B testing, etc.
@Vance
Not only is it possible, it’s pretty much guaranteed that a bright, young founder will create the next big thing with AI. But at an individual level, the chances are slim. Professionals using AI effectively will likely outpace amateurs. AI won’t level the playing field, it will make the gap bigger.
@Nevan
When you talk about AGI, do you mean something that can think and improve on its own, or just a more advanced version of the current AI models? I’m wondering where this data would come from. I’ve used synthetic data in my work, but it’s always just examples of known data. Would AGI require new data sources, or could it just build on what’s available?
@Vance
I’m talking about AI that can self-improve and create new solutions—something our current models can’t do.
AI is priced the same as a human employee
That’s an interesting point.
AI works best with structured data
Most people don’t get that. AI needs clean, structured data to work right, but many companies have messy data spread out across different platforms.
AI-SDRs solve a problem that doesn’t exist
Haha, true. AI can’t handle things like interruptions in a conversation, which is why it falls short.
College students with a script will do better than AI-SDRs
Agreed. I’ve been checking out AI sales agents at work and concluded that they’re not ready yet. Our product is high-end, and our clients still expect the human touch.
Maybe in a few years, the technology and market will evolve.
@Sky
Sales teams need help from founders. Push them to explore new strategies you know work because you’ve talked to customers and closed deals—something they might not have experience with.
Joss said:
@Sky
Sales teams need help from founders. Push them to explore new strategies you know work because you’ve talked to customers and closed deals—something they might not have experience with.
Sales need help from founders
You’re not wrong, but our founders are busy with other things. They’re more focused on fundraising and technical stuff. We do have a Chief Revenue Officer, but they’re not doing much in terms of sales strategy.
@Sky
If you have structured data, you don’t really need AI. There are traditional tools that handle structured data well.
Valor said:
@Sky
If you have structured data, you don’t really need AI. There are traditional tools that handle structured data well.
If you have structured data, you don’t need AI
You’re right. Most of the time, people don’t need AI—they just need organized data. But looking forward, AI-driven data analytics will definitely bring some changes.
@Sky
Okay, that makes sense. I was referring to how AI works with structured data. Compared to traditional methods, AI can handle structured data more efficiently without much human input. But am I right in thinking that AIs struggle more with unstructured data?
AIs handling unstructured data
I work in Operations, and I’ve specialized in Data Analytics. I mainly clean up data from different sources for reports. I don’t deal with unstructured data directly, but many people think AI is the solution to everything. It’s actually easy to get an AI budget for cleaning data, but it’s not always the best option.