AI Automation with Make is a free Make.com automation course for people who want their apps to do the copying, sorting and replying for them. It has 8 short modules in a set order: how the practice works, the three ideas behind every automation, your first Make scenario, filters and routers, a scheduled summary, where AI belongs, an AI reply step and webhooks. You practice every click in a copy of Make in your browser, then repeat it in your own free account. You can start the course here, or jump straight to the free Your First Make Scenario lesson.
This page is for office managers, front-desk and operations staff, and small-business owners. It explains what each module covers, why the order matters and what you need in your own account. The examples use made-up businesses and fake data only.
Why learn automation in Make?
Every office has jobs that are the same every time: a form comes in and someone copies it into a sheet, an urgent request gets missed because it looks like the routine ones, and somebody builds the end-of-day summary by hand. Each one takes a few minutes, and together they eat hours a week and still slip through the cracks.
Make is a visual automation tool. Each scenario is a row of modules on a canvas, joined by lines, so you can see exactly where the data goes. That makes it a good tool to learn on, and its entry price is low: the free plan includes 1,000 credits a month and 2 active scenarios, and the Core plan is listed at $12 a month for 10,000 credits (Make pricing page, October 2026). Make counts one credit for each module action, so a short scenario is cheap to run.
AI fits in as one more module. Once the basics work, you add the OpenAI module so ChatGPT writes a personal reply, and the rest of the scenario stays plain rules. If you are still choosing a tool, read n8n vs Make vs Zapier for AI automation.
Who is this Make course for?
- Office managers and front-desk staff who copy form answers, sort requests and send the same emails every day.
- Operations staff who want a daily summary that writes itself.
- Owners who want to try AI replies with clear limits before rolling them out.
No coding is needed. The webhook module uses a URL you copy and paste, and the AI module uses an API key you paste into a connection.
What are the 8 modules, in order?
| # | Module | The business problem it solves | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | How Stepthrough works | Getting the most out of the practice | Beginner |
| 2 | Triggers, actions and data mapping | Copying the same details between apps by hand | Beginner |
| 3 | Your first scenario: Google Form to Google Sheets | Form responses copied into a sheet by hand | Intermediate |
| 4 | Filters and routers: urgent one way, routine another | Urgent requests buried with routine ones | Intermediate |
| 5 | A daily summary email from a sheet | An end-of-day report someone builds by hand | Intermediate |
| 6 | When to add AI to an automation | Paying for AI in steps that don't need it | Beginner |
| 7 | ChatGPT writes a personal reply, Signatoro signs it | Every reply written and signed from scratch | Intermediate |
| 8 | Webhooks: connect a website form to Make | A website form that Make cannot see | Advanced |
Modules 1 and 2: how it works, and how automations think
Module 1 shows how the practice works: watch a step, then do it yourself, with a "do it for me" button if you get stuck. Module 2 is a short concept lesson on plain diagrams. You learn that a trigger starts every automation, each action does one job, and field mapping carries the details from one module to the next. You also fix the classic mistake of typing words into a box instead of mapping it.
Modules 3 to 5: scenarios that run themselves
Module 3 builds your first scenario: every new Google Forms response becomes a new row in Google Sheets. You add the trigger, make a connection, map each column, test with Run once and set a schedule. Module 4 adds a router: urgent requests go to the front desk by email through a filter, and everything else goes to the sheet on a fallback route. Module 5 runs a scenario on a clock: every day at 5 PM it finds today's rows, combines them with a Text aggregator and emails one summary with Gmail.
The step-by-step written guides are Google Forms to Google Sheets in Make, Make router and filters and a daily summary email on a schedule.
Modules 6 and 7: add AI where it earns its place
Module 6 is a concept lesson, again on plain diagrams. You sort six office jobs into plain rules, AI steps and decisions a person makes, then walk through the safe shape of an AI automation: a trigger, one small AI step, a rule that acts on its answer, a person who checks, then the action.
Module 7 builds it in Make. You connect the OpenAI (ChatGPT, Sora, Whisper) module and use Generate a response to write a personal reply from each patient's form answers. Then an HTTP module fetches the sender's real signature from Signatoro with a bearer token, so the AI never signs anything itself, and Gmail sends the reply. Signatoro is a partner tool that keeps each person's email signature in one place. The written guide is ChatGPT personal reply in Make.
Module 8: start from your own website
Module 8 starts a scenario with a Custom webhook. You paste its URL into your website form's webhook setting, send a test so Make learns the fields, and save every request to Google Sheets the moment it arrives. The written guide is website form webhook to Google Sheets. If the word webhook is new, the What a Webhook Is lesson shows one with your own eyes.
How does each module work?
- Why it matters. The business problem and what fixing it is worth.
- Practice. Every step in a copy of Make in your browser. Nothing touches your real accounts.
- Do it for real. A short checklist for your own Make account.
- Quick check. Three questions, then Up next to the following module.
Most modules take 6 to 18 minutes.
What do you need in your own account?
- A free Make account. The free plan covers every module's practice scenario.
- A Google account for Google Forms, Sheets and Gmail.
- An OpenAI API key for module 7. OpenAI bills it per use, separately from any ChatGPT plan, and Make says features using its AI Provider may use more than one credit.
- A Signatoro account for the signature step in module 7.
- Your website form's webhook setting for module 8, usually under Integrations, Webhooks or the form's Settings.
Key takeaways
- Every Make scenario is a trigger module, action modules and data mapped between them.
- Routers and filters send different requests different ways; a schedule makes a scenario run on its own.
- Add AI only where a step has to read or write messy words, and keep fixed details, like a signature, in the tool that owns them.
- A Custom webhook lets any website form start a scenario the moment it is sent.
Frequently asked questions
- Is this Make.com automation course free?
Yes. Every module and practice is free and runs in your browser. In your own account, Make's free plan covers the scenarios, and only the AI module needs a paid OpenAI API key.
- Do I need to code to use Make?
No. You add modules and click items from earlier modules into later ones. The webhook module uses a URL you copy and paste.
- Is Make better than Zapier or n8n?
Make is visual and low cost, with routers and filters on the free plan. Zapier is the quickest for short automations, and n8n is strongest for AI agents and long workflows. See n8n vs Make vs Zapier for AI automation, and the free AI Automation with Zapier and AI Automation with n8n courses.
- Does the AI reply go out without anyone checking?
In module 7 Gmail sends the reply, which suits short, low-risk answers. For anything sensitive, save it as a Gmail draft instead and have a person send it. Module 6 explains when to keep a person in the loop.
Sources
- Make pricing (checked October 2026)
- Make Help Center: Webhooks
- OpenAI API pricing