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bnedai.com/waai-2026

Wednesday, October 7 · 12:00 to 1:00 PM ET · Zoom

Point your phone camera at the code to open this page on your phone, so your laptop screen stays free for Gumloop. Every step, the file you upload, and the sample inbox are here.

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Women Applying AI · Live webinar with Jacqueline V. Twillie

Build Your First AI Agent in One Hour

In one hour on Zoom, you build a Chief of Staff AI agent. It reads your calendar and your inbox, tells you what matters today, drafts the replies you owe, and names the follow-ups you keep forgetting. It never sends a thing without you.

Never built an AI agent? Good. This is the one to start with, and yours will be running before we hang up.

First, on your laptop

Set up Gumloop

This is a 14-day trial. Gumloop asks for a card when you sign up. Nothing charges during the 14 days. Set a reminder for day 14, so the decision to continue is yours, made on purpose.

Start your Gumloop trial(opens in a new tab)

Tapping Get Started asks you to sign in with a Google or Microsoft account. There is no plain email sign-up on that screen. If you'd rather not link either, use a personal Google account just for this, or ask in the chat.

Tap to copy. Optional: 20% off one month if you decide to stay on after the trial.

Then, the one file you upload

Get the file

These are your AI agent's instructions, written for you. You upload this one file in Step 3. Nothing to type.

Download chief-of-staff-agent.md, Markdown text file, 5 KB

On your laptop it lands in your Downloads folder. On your phone it saves to Files. Today's build happens on your laptop, so grab it there before we start. Not connecting your inbox today? The sample inbox is further down.

Bring your laptop, the Google account you use every day (or a short list of open items you can paste in), and one real thing you've been meaning to follow up on. That's the whole kit.

Start here

Step 1: What an AI agent is

An AI agent is a helper you set up one time and use again and again. You write it instructions once, in plain English. It reads what you give it and does the same job every time you ask, without you rebuilding it from scratch.

Today you build one: your Chief of Staff. Same AI agent for everyone on the call, run on your own calendar and inbox.

Before you touch Gumloop

Step 2: Decide what it reads, name the one thing

Two short parts. Pen and paper is fine for the second one.

  1. Step 2, part 1: Pick how it reads your day

    Two ways in. Pick the one that fits the account you're sitting at.

    Done when:exactly one lane is highlighted. It stays picked if you leave and come back on this device.

  2. Step 2, part 2: Name the one thing you want off your plate

    One sentence, in your own words: the follow-up, reply, or daily check you keep meaning to do and don't. That sentence is the first real job your AI agent gets in Step 6.

    Saved on this device only. Nothing here is sent anywhere.

    Done when:you have one sentence you could paste into the chat as your first ask.

The round check marks only track your reading on this device. Your actual AI agent lives in your Gumloop account and opens exactly where you left it.

Five Gumloop words you'll see next

Tap any of them for a plain-English line. Two more words, Skills and Sub-agents, exist in Gumloop and you are not building either today.

In Gumloop

Step 3: Create your Chief of Staff

Three parts. The file you downloaded above already holds the instructions. You are mostly uploading and turning things on.

  1. Step 3, part 1: Create the AI agent

    In Gumloop, open Agents and create a new one. Name it Chief of Staff.

    You should see:your new AI agent's own page, with its name at the top and a chat box.

  2. Step 3, part 2: Upload your instructions file

    In the chat box, find the plus button in the bottom-left corner. Use it to upload chief-of-staff-agent.md, the file from the top of this page. Then send one message: "Use this file as your instructions."

    You should see:the file attached, and when you ask "what do you do?", an answer that mentions a daily brief, drafted replies, and never sending on its own.

  3. Step 3, part 3: Turn on Self-Improving Instructions

    Open your AI agent's settings, next to its instructions. Find Self-Improving Instructions and turn it on. This lets the AI agent sharpen its own instructions when you correct it in Step 6.

    You should see:the toggle switched on. If it was already on, you're done.

What it reads

Step 4: Connect your inbox and calendar

Two parts. You only need one of them, and it's the lane you picked in Step 2.

  1. Step 4, part 1: Connect Gmail and Google Calendar

    In your AI agent's settings, open Connectors. Select Add Connector, pick Gmail, and sign in with the Google account you use daily. Repeat for Google Calendar. Both go through the same Google consent screen if you use the same account.

    You should see:Gmail and Google Calendar listed under Connectors, nothing else.

  2. Step 4, part 2: No Google login? Paste it in

    Skip the connectors. In the chat, paste three to five real open items: a forwarded email chain, a to-do list, a screenshot's text typed out. Nothing to paste? Download the sample inbox from this page and paste that instead. It is fictional and built for exactly this.

    You should see:your pasted list sitting in the chat, and the AI agent asking what you'd like first.

The one to get right

Step 5: Nothing sends

One part. Your AI agent drafts. You send.

  1. Step 5: Confirm nothing can send on your behalf

    Look at your Connectors list. It should hold Gmail and Google Calendar if you connected them, and nothing else. No Slack, no CRM. Your instructions file already tells the AI agent to save every reply as a draft and never send, and to never create a real calendar event without you saying so in that exact turn. This step is where you check it yourself.

    You should see:Gmail and Google Calendar under Connectors, or an empty list if you pasted. If something else is there, remove it for today.

Why this step exists

An AI agent with an inbox connector and no rule can send a draft you never read. Yours has a rule, in writing, in the file you just uploaded. When you add more connectors later, from your own account, add the approval rule first, so every send asks you.

The real thing

Step 6: Run it on your real day

Two parts. This is where you find out it works.

  1. Step 6, part 1: Ask for today's brief

    In the chat, type: "Give me today's brief." If you connected Gmail and Calendar, it reads the real thing. If you pasted, it works from that. Then paste your one sentence from Step 2 and let it take that on. It will show you what it found, then stop and check with you before drafting. Tell it to continue.

    You should see:a short brief in three parts: today's calendar, the emails that need a reply with a drafted reply for each one, and your open loops. Every draft says it's a draft, not sent.

  2. Step 6, part 2: Correct it once

    Read what it gave you. Tell it one thing that's off or missing, in one sentence: the tone of a draft, a task it skipped, a meeting it got wrong. Watch it update.

    You should see:the next reply reflects your correction instead of repeating the first answer.

After the call

Step 7: Take home

Two small things, then you're set.

Step 7, part 1: Tomorrow morning, ask again

Open your Chief of Staff before you open your inbox and ask for the brief. Do that three mornings in a row and it becomes the habit. The AI agent is only useful if it's the first tab, not the fifth.

  • Each morning: "Give me today's brief."
  • Before a call: "Prep me for my 2 PM."
  • When a draft is off: say so, in one sentence.

Step 7, part 2: Your day-14 reminder

Your Gumloop trial runs 14 days from the day you signed up. Put day 14 on your calendar now, not as a mental note, so the decision to continue is yours, made on purpose.

If you decide to stay on, the code at the top of this page takes 20% off one month.

After today, from your own account

Jacqueline demos these from her screen; they are not part of today's build. When you are ready, add them one at a time: Exa and Firecrawl so it can research a person or company before your call, Google Docs so the brief lands in a document, and Slack if you run a team. Add the approval setting before any of them, so nothing sends or posts without you.

Practice document

Sample inbox

Fictional, and says so inside. Use it in Step 4 if you aren't connecting Gmail today, or try it at home to see the brief before you trust it with your real inbox.

Sample inbox and calendar

One day in a made-up professional's life: five emails, five calendar items, and four open loops nobody has closed. Paste the whole thing into the chat and ask for the brief.

sample-inbox.md

Download the sample inbox, Markdown text file, 2 KB

What to look for in the brief

The calendar in time order. A drafted reply for Priya, Dana, Marcus, and Lena, and nothing for the automated invoice. All four open loops named plainly, with the overdue ones called overdue. If any of that is missing, that's your correction for Step 6.

The words, defined

  • AI agentA helper you set up one time and use again and again. Instructions once, in plain English, and it does the same job every time you ask.
  • Agent InstructionsThe plain-English brief that tells your AI agent who it is and how to decide. Today that is the file you uploaded.
  • Self-Improving InstructionsA setting that lets the AI agent rewrite its own instructions when you correct it, so the fix sticks.
  • Knowledge SourcesThe documents your AI agent is allowed to read. Today: nothing uploaded there, your inbox and calendar come in through Connectors instead.
  • ConnectorsOther tools plugged into the AI agent. Today: Gmail and Google Calendar, or none at all if you pasted. Nothing that can send or post.
  • Daily briefThe three-part answer your Chief of Staff gives every morning: today's calendar, emails that need a reply, open loops.
  • Open loopA follow-up you owe, a decision you haven't made, a thing you said you'd send and haven't. The AI agent names them plainly.
  • Skill, Sub-agentTwo more things Gumloop can do. Not part of today's build.