RPA vs AI Automation: What's the Difference?

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) follows explicit, rule-based steps — perfect for structured, predictable tasks like moving data between systems.

AI automation adds intelligence: it can handle unstructured data, understand context, and make decisions where the rules aren't fixed.

A simple way to think about it

• RPA = the hands that do the work.
• AI = the brain that decides what to do.

Better together

The most powerful systems combine both — AI reads and understands an incoming request, then RPA executes the steps across your tools. That pairing is where real end-to-end automation happens.