AI Tasks let you automate any work that requires judgment. You describe what you want the AI to do, set when it runs, and it works unattended: reading files, validating content, generating reports, screening uploads, auditing partner configurations, flagging anomalies, or verifying that offboarding was done correctly. If you can describe the job in plain language, you can turn it into a task.

The key difference from Automations is judgment. Automations follow rules. They move, copy, rename, and delete files the same way every time. AI Tasks read, assess, and act based on what they actually find. That makes them useful for anything rules cannot handle: work that depends on understanding what something actually says or means.

Each run creates a chat session you can review in Chat Logs. Site Administrators and Workspace Administrators can create and manage AI Tasks. Workspace Administrators can only manage tasks within their workspace. For details on AI providers, data handling, and audit logging, see Security and Privacy.

How AI Tasks Work

AI Tasks are agentic. When a task runs, the AI does not just generate a response. It reasons through a sequence of steps, takes actions, evaluates what it found, and decides what to do next. It can call multiple tools in a single run and chain those actions together based on what it actually finds.

Tasks run automatically on a schedule, when a file event occurs, or when an administrator triggers one manually. The same prompt runs every time, so recurring work happens without anyone having to remember to do it. For example:

A task scheduled each morning reviews the previous day's login history and writes a report listing who accessed the site, which protocols they used, and whether any partner accounts authenticated without completing a transfer.
A task that fires every time a file arrives in /Intake/Partners reads the file, checks it against your validation rules, and routes it to processing or flags it for review.
A task that runs each week scans all active share links for missing expiration dates and writes a cleanup list to the admin folder.
A task triggered when a new partner folder is created verifies that permissions, encryption, and notification settings match your onboarding checklist before the partner goes live.
A task that runs monthly cross-references group memberships against your expected partner list and flags any accounts that should have been removed.

The AI figures out which tool to call at which step based on your prompt. You do not script the steps or configure each action individually. An Automation follows a fixed path. An AI Task follows a path that depends on what the AI finds.

Each step is recorded in a chat session you can review in Chat Logs, so you can see exactly what the AI did, which files it accessed, what decisions it made, and what it produced.

AI Tasks vs AI Assistant

Both use the same underlying AI and the same agentic capabilities. The difference is who controls the run and when.

The AI Assistant is interactive. A user opens a chat, types a request, and the AI works through it step by step. Before applying any change, the Assistant shows the user exactly what it plans to do and waits for confirmation. Any logged-in user can use the AI Assistant within their own permission scope: standard users, partners, Folder Admins, Workspace Administrators, and Site Administrators all have access.

AI Tasks are autonomous. There is no user in the loop. The task fires on a schedule or a file event, runs the prompt from start to finish, and writes its output without asking anyone. No one reviews the plan before it executes. Site Administrators and Workspace Administrators can create tasks, but the task itself runs unattended.

Use the AI Assistant when:

You need to have a conversation: ask follow-up questions, refine the output, or review what the AI plans to do before it acts
The work is a one-off and does not need to repeat
You want a human to stay in the loop for every action the AI takes

Use AI Tasks when:

The work is repeatable and follows the same pattern every time
You want it to run automatically without someone triggering it
The trigger is a schedule or a file arriving in a folder
You need an audit trail of every run without anyone having to remember to check

What AI Tasks Can Do

AI Tasks run with the same capabilities as the AI Assistant. The AI can read files, analyze logs, check permissions and configurations, query user and group data, generate files, and take actions on your site based on what it finds.

What makes AI Tasks different from Automations is judgment. Automations apply the same action every time based on rules. AI Tasks read a situation, assess it, and produce a result based on what they actually find. A task can check which users have access to a sensitive folder and whether that list looks correct. It can scan the previous day's login history and identify partner accounts that authenticated but never completed a transfer. It can read an uploaded document, assess whether it meets your standards, and write a structured exception report. No human involved.

When AI Tasks read files, they work best with text-based formats: documents, spreadsheets, CSVs, XML, JSON, HTML, and similar. They cannot read the visual content of images, audio, or video.

When to Use AI Tasks

Use an AI Task when the work requires judgment and follows a pattern you want to run automatically. That might mean reviewing what is inside a file or checking whether a configuration looks correct.

Good situations for AI Tasks:

You would otherwise have to open the AI Assistant and type the same prompt every day or every time a file arrives
The decision depends on understanding something: what is in a file, whether a permission set looks right, whether a partner account is behaving as expected
You want a human-readable output such as a report, a validation note, or a structured exception list
The work is repeatable and follows a consistent pattern
You need an audit trail of what the AI found and what it did on each run

When Not to Use AI Tasks

Files.com has purpose-built features that handle many common workflow needs without AI. Before creating an AI Task, check whether one of these already solves the problem.

Need	Use Instead
Moving, copying, renaming, or deleting files based on rules	Use Automations. They execute immediately, support retries, and do not consume AI credits.
Renaming or organizing uploaded files automatically	The Renaming Uploaded Files and Organize Files folder settings handle this at upload time with no automation or task required.
Monitoring that expected files arrived on time	Expectations define what a correct delivery looks like and surface missing or late files without any AI.
Alerting on file, folder, or system events	Notifications cover file activity. Event Channels cover system events like Sync outcomes, Automation results, SSO activity, and user lockouts.
Synchronizing files between two locations	Sync replicates files between Files.com, remote servers, and cloud storage on a schedule or automation trigger.
Deleting files automatically after a set period	File Expiration removes files based on age with no AI or manual review.
Managing the lifecycle of user accounts	User Lifecycle Rules disable or delete accounts automatically based on inactivity. Use an AI Task only if you need a verification report after offboarding completes.
Encrypting or decrypting files automatically	GPG folder settings encrypt or decrypt files at upload with no prompt or task needed.
Generating scheduled reports on site activity	Scheduled Report Exports deliver built-in reports (Share Links, Permissions, Group Membership, Folder Size) as CSVs on a schedule. Use an AI Task only when you need narrative analysis or conclusions drawn from multiple sources.
Restricting what files can be uploaded	Data Governance restrictions block uploads that do not match your rules before files enter your environment. Use an AI Task only when you need to screen what is inside the file, not just its name or type.

Also avoid AI Tasks when:

The output must be identical every time. AI output can vary between runs. Use Automations when the result must be deterministic.
The files are images, audio, or video. AI Tasks cannot read visual or audio content.
A File Action trigger is on a high-volume folder with no source pattern set. Without a filename filter, the task runs on every file and consumes credits quickly.
The workflow requires a human to approve something mid-run. AI Tasks run unattended from start to finish.
Speed is critical. Automations execute in milliseconds. AI Tasks reason through each step before acting.
The workflow cannot tolerate a missed run. AI Tasks do not retry automatically. Automations have built-in retry logic for cases where reliability is required.

For a one-off task or a back-and-forth conversation, use the AI Assistant instead.

AI Tasks and Automations Together

Automations and AI Tasks work well together. Automations handle the reliable, rule-based parts of a workflow. AI Tasks handle the parts that require judgment.

One common pattern: an Automation moves an incoming file to a staging folder, an AI Task reads the file and validates or classifies it, and another Automation routes the result to its destination.

Another: a scheduled AI Task reviews permission assignments across sensitive folders, identifies anything that looks unusual, and writes a report to an admin folder. A Notification then alerts the compliance team that the report is ready to review.

You can combine AI Tasks with Event Channels and Notifications to close the loop between unattended AI work and the people who need to act on it.

For details on editing prompts and triggers, viewing run logs, and troubleshooting failed runs, see Managing Tasks.