automated

What they are, what types there are and how the automated ones work with or without artificial intelligence

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Let’s explain to you what is a workflow or work flowan increasingly popular type of automation. This is something that has been possible for some time with specialized tools, but they have taken a new step with the inclusion of artificial intelligence. These workflows allow you to create quite interesting and advanced automations. We have already taught you some, such as when you receive an email in Gmail the AI ​​processes it and You will receive a summary by Telegram so you don’t need to open or read the email. What is a workflow or work flow? A workflow is the term we use to define a structured sequence of steps, tasks, or processes programmed to achieve a specific objective. This process may have more or fewer steps depending on the goal you want to achieve. In essence, it is like a chain of tasks that you can configure. That is why it is a workflow, because to reach the objective you have to carry out one task after another in the order that you have configured, using the results of each of the steps for the next. The term workflow or workflow can be used in various contexts. In the business world it can be something as simple as a sequence of actions that employees perform, such as me requesting vacation days, the boss reviewing and approving them, and then human resources being notified to record it in the system. But at Xataka Basics we are going to talk to you about them especially in a context of software and tools for automate the completion of tasks through several steps. With them, you can increase productivity and reduce the time it takes to do various tasks, whether focusing on domestic actions or for the business world. There are several types of workflow There are several types of workflow, such as the sequential oneswhich are a chain in which the task is completed in each of the steps before jumping to the next. They are also the parallelsin which multiple tasks run at the same time and then converge to save time. You also have the workflows conditionalsin which there are certain rules. If one thing happens, then this task is performed, and if it does not happen or something else happens, it goes to different steps. And then there are automated workflows that are carried out using software, and that serve to reduce human errors and improve the speed at which tasks are completed. These They can use or not use artificial intelligence depending on the task you want to perform. These automated workflows are typically performed with digital tools, such as Zapier either Make.com. Depending on the volume of actions and complexity, you will then be able to use free accounts or you will have to pay a subscription to use them. How automated workflows work The tools to create automated workflows are like blank canvases on which you build the steps of your automation, although They also have template systems to help you with the processes and give you ideas of things you can do. You can use these linking the tool to the online services you want to usewhich can be anything from your email service to an artificial intelligence system to process information. When linking these services, depending on the tool, you will need to simply log in and grant access, or configure access using the API key of this service. It all depends on the goal you want to achieve and the steps you want to take or the method you want to use. When you are going to create a workflow Using these tools, the service you use will allow you to choose what you want to do at each step. Depending on the linked services, you can decide how to manage the information and what type of information to process. If you add an AI you can customize the prompt, and then decide what happens at the end of the chain. The first step of a workflow is a trigger or “trigger”, is the action that launches the process. This can be manual, you click on the launch button and it does the tasks, or automatic, such as receiving an email or a message with certain characteristics. And then from there you build each of the steps until you reach the end, where you can make decisions such as sending yourself an email with the result, linking a service like Google Drive so that the result generates or edits a text document or data sheet, or setting up a bot in apps like Telegram to send you a message. Be careful with privacy When you are going to use automated workflows You should be aware that you may put your privacy at risk. For example, if you add Gmail you must keep in mind that all the emails that the workflow uses will be obtained by the website or service you are using, so be careful about using sensitive content. Additionally, if you are using an AI to process content or Telegram to notify you, please note that messages and content are They will also be stored on the companies’ servers who manage them. This is the same thing that will happen to you with AI or with many private tools that you use, and I am not saying this to discourage you from using them, but so that you are aware of it when choosing whether or not you need a workflow for that task. In Xataka Basics | What is Claude Cowork, how it works, and what things you can do with this AI assistant on your computer

I have received more than fifty automated Christmas greetings. They all lie

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I would love for my next sentence to be an innocent one, but it is completely factual: I have received more than fifty Christmas greetings by email. Not written to me specifically, but automated by companies that thought it was an excellent idea. They all say the same thing with different words, They all pretend a closeness that does not exist. And the most striking thing is not that they do it, but that the person who sends them knows that the recipients know that it is a lie, and they still send them. Welcome to the theater of obligatory cordiality, where we are all actors conscious of acting. These christmas They usually come signed by the communication department, but it is not ‘communication’, it is maintenance of social infrastructure. Like watering a plastic plant: the gesture doesn’t make any sense, but doing it makes you feel better. The company that congratulates you has no feelings for you. The LinkedIn contact who hasn’t written to you in 364 days, either. But both have calculated that the cost of sending you that message (zero) is lower than the risk of you forgetting about them. It is calculation disguised as warmth. It works because we have accepted a tacit agreement: We’re going to pretend these messages mean something if you pretend you appreciate them. Nobody believes anything. But we all participate. The real message is not “I wish you a brutal Christmas” but “I still exist on your radar.” They don’t wish you anything, they only mark territory in your attention. And this contaminates even royal congratulations. We have turned a gesture of affection into a signal so degraded that it no longer communicates anything. Like when you repeat a word many times until it loses meaning: Merry christmas. Merry christmas. Merry christmas. Merry christmas. It doesn’t mean anything anymore. It’s just noise. The bad thing about the system is that it generates its own incentives to perpetuate itself. If you don’t send your massive congratulations, someone will interpret your silence as disdain. So you do it. And in doing so, you contribute to the noise that you yourself hate. Each individual message seems innocuous, but the aggregate effect is the destruction of the meaning of the words. And then there’s the absurd escalation. Because as everyone knows it is a lie, some try to differentiate themselves by adding layers of production. Videos with smiling employees, animated GIFs, Canva designs. As if the problem were packaging. Christmas spam is not a volume problem. The thing is we have forgotten that silence is also valid. That saying nothing is better than saying something empty. But we live terrified of silence, we prefer constant noise. And if you refuse to participate, you will be the odd one out. This is the sad thing: we know that it is a lie, that it contaminates real communication. But we keep doing it. Merry christmas. In Xataka | Calling without warning has gone from being normal to being rude. And in that change we have lost something Featured image | Xataka

the Franco-Italian commitment to automated nuclear energy

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The growth of artificial intelligence has skyrocketed global electricity consumption and put governments before an urgent question: where will the energy come from to sustain it? In an unorthodox alliance, France and Italy believe they have part of the answer with automated nuclear microreactors. Slow down. At first it sounds very grandiose, but here we are going to unpack it. The French startup NAAREA has announced a strategic partnership with the Italian company Fluid Wire Robotics (FWR), specialized in robotics for extreme environments. The agreement seeks to integrate FWR’s robotic systems in the handling, maintenance and dismantling operations of the XAMR microreactors, that NAAREA has been developing since 2020. According to the official statementthe XAMR is a fourth-generation fast neutron and molten salt reactor, capable of producing 40 megawatts of electricity and 80 megawatts of thermal power. Its particularity is that it works by “burning long-term nuclear waste” from spent fuel from other plants, transforming a storage problem into an energy source. The answer lies in robotics. Fluid Wire has designed a system that allows robotic arms to operate without vulnerable electronic components within radioactive zones. The motors and sensors are located in a remote, armored unit, from where they transmit movement through a hydrostatic system. This prevents radiation from damaging the electronics and allows precise manipulation, with force feedback, even underwater or in temperatures up to 180°C. In addition, the system supports radiation levels of up to 1.5 MGy and can work both in remote mode (controlled by humans) and in automatic mode, with programmed sequences for production or maintenance. Thanks to this, NAAREA will automate key steps in fuel production, carry out robotic inspections and carry out assisted dismantling, reducing the exposure of human personnel to a minimum. One more step of automation. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been promoting the use of drones and robots to improve safety at power plants for years. According to the organizationthese technologies already contribute to reducing risks and increasing efficiency, even in operating plants. The agency has highlighted the development of walking, flying and even aquatic robots that are already used for inspections, emergency response and post-incident evaluation. robotics, experts sayis ceasing to be a promise and becoming an everyday tool in nuclear energy. Japan: an extreme example. Last year, the Telesco robot went in to recover molten fuel from Fukushima reactor 2 for the first time. The operation, directed by TEPCOoffers unprecedented information on the degradation of materials after thirteen years of radiation and residual heat, and confirms the essential role of robotics in environments impossible for humans. Energy for a world hungry for chips. The NAAREA-FWR alliance is also part of an underlying energy crisis. The growth of artificial intelligence and data centers has skyrocketed global electricity consumption. As my colleague’s article warnedgenerative AI systems and training large models require amounts of energy that are already straining power grids in several countries. In this context, nuclear microreactors like those from NAAREA can offer a stable, clean and localized supply alternative, especially for industries with high energy demand – such as data centers or semiconductor production. In fact, in another reportwe detail how companies like Google and Microsoft are exploring agreements with nuclear energy companies to power their AI infrastructures. Atomic energy, previously associated only with giant and military reactors, is being rediscovered as a strategic engine for the new digital revolution. Robots at the service of the atom. For NAAREA, the collaboration with FWR represents a step towards a replicable and safe nuclear industrialization model. The robotic arms designed in Pisa and the microreactors assembled in France could become a symbol of a new era: miniature, autonomous plants, connected to industries or data centers, and maintained by robots that operate where no human could. In a world where artificial intelligence needs more energy than ever — and where humans seek to reduce risks and emissions — the atom is once again the protagonist, but this time with mechanical help. Image | FreePik Xataka | When we thought we had seen all kinds of rehearsals for an invasion, China makes science fiction: robots taking over an island

or buy with all automated or “automate” humans

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There are two antithetical models in Spain around the future of our purchases. How we will buy. Amazonwhich has broken its roof in Spain with 8,000 million in sales and black numbers for the first time. Mercadonathat in addition to leading in fee above 25% it has A net margin of 3.88% with which the rest of your sector cannot even dream. They barely compete for the same clients, but they do fight to define what will mean buying in the future and how to offer the most profitable and adapted experience. They represent different Darwinian philosophies. The big difference does not come for its figures, but by Your concept of future: Amazon invested 4,500 million in Spain for 2024with a lot of focus on logistics infrastructure. For example, automated 175,000 square meters designed as hyperautomatization centers. Mercadona allocated 276 million euros to its logistics network, 26% of its total investment, but with an opposite approach: reduce errors to give better service to customers and stores, He said One of its spokesmen. Amazon automates to climb, Mercadona automates to serve. The first represents the species Volume-Firsthe second to the species Quality-First. Are Two opposite visionsalmost incompatible, from commerce, although they come from two absolute leaders. For Amazon, technology is the ultimate goal: Its robotic force frees human employees from tedious, routine tasks. It also promises shipments 70% cheaper than its competitors. Your model FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) It turns any company into a gear of its logistics machinery. His automation seeks to eliminate human frictions. Less employees, more robots, maximum scale. Mercadona, on the other hand, maintains automation as a more invisible tool: From the field to the store in 24 hours without the client perceiving that technology. The “hives” of 10,000 square meters function as a kind of stores, but “without customers”, As Juana Roig explained at the time. Thus preserve the human experience of retail. Her automation goes on another way: she perfects the human experience, but does not dehumanize it. The important thing about these bets is not the size of the accounts, but the medium -term vision: Will we prioritize speed and price, or will we assess the purchase experience with personal care and constant quality? Mercadona has triggered its margin in recent years, demonstrating that efficiency without dehumanization is profitable: But 90% of Spaniards, according to A remote survey with Appiniohe has ever bought at Amazon. Even if the real figure is lower, it evidences how seductive the hyperconvenience that Amazon proposes. The battle for commercial survival is served: If Amazon imposes its model, we will see trade as a coMMODITY: Total immediacy, minimum price, standardized experience. If it is Mercadona who marks a trend, the future will be physical trade as a premium service. Constant quality, value by experience, personalized treatment. Maybe there is space for both proposals for a long time. For the 8.20 euros and a minimum purchase of 50 that Mercadona requires for online purchase in front of the open shipping bar in exchange for an annual subscription proposed by Amazon. It can also happen that it is one who prevails and marks the way to follow for the rest. If the immediacy or humanization of trade is put before. Automation is not neutral. It is creating two commercial species. In Xataka | That Mercadona and other supermarkets are sweeping the “ready to eat” is not accidental: we buy time, no food Outstanding image | Unspash, Mercadona

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