Build an Automated AI Email Bot with Make.com and OpenAI

Sabrina Ramonov walks through a three-step process for building an email bot that reads incoming Gmail messages, generates replies using an OpenAI assistant, and sends them automatically. The whole thing runs on Make.com.

Step 1: Watch for New Emails

Create a Make.com scenario that triggers whenever a new email arrives in your Gmail inbox. This is the starting node of the automation.

Step 2: Build Your OpenAI Assistant

Go to platform.openai.com, click "Create an assistant," and give it a name. The key parts are the system instructions (the prompt that tells the assistant how to behave) and the file search feature.

Upload documents that contain examples of your previous emails and how you typically respond. These examples train the assistant to match your voice and style. The file search toggle needs to be enabled for this to work.

You can test the assistant directly in the platform. Paste in a sample email, and the assistant will generate a reply so you can see if it sounds right before connecting it to the automation.

Step 3: Send the Reply

Back in Make.com, add another node after the OpenAI step. This node takes the assistant's response and sends it as an email reply through Gmail.

The result is a fully automated loop: email comes in, gets processed by AI, and a reply goes out without any manual intervention.

Key Takeaways

• Make.com handles the automation workflow: watching for emails and sending replies.
• The OpenAI Assistants API uses your past emails as training data through file search.
• Test the assistant with sample emails before connecting it to live automation.

Resources

• Make.com -- Automation platform for connecting apps and building workflows
• OpenAI Assistants -- Build custom AI assistants with file search and system instructions