The Real Cost of Letting AI Run Your Business Systems

This episode of The WP Minute’s Agency Action podcast gets into a question more WordPress agencies are going to have to answer: What work should humans still be doing?

Kurt von Ahnen and Toby Cryns talk about using AI to manage email, improve project workflows, rebuild WordPress sites, and even replace piles of plugins with custom code. Kurt shares how AI helped take an abandoned site from a 56 to a 92 on desktop page speed, while Toby explains why he’s looking at AI as a way to reduce the time spent on complex WooCommerce projects.

But the conversation gets more complicated when AI-generated work still needs human judgment. They debate whether agencies should build custom solutions or rely on established products, how much customization clients should expect, and where the line is between efficiency and creating another maintenance headache.

Then there’s the other problem: AI subscriptions are piling up. Between Claude, ClickUp AI, Figma, Canva, Descript, Perplexity, and a growing list of specialized tools, agencies have to figure out whether the productivity gains actually justify the cost. Kurt and Toby dig into whether agencies are passing those costs on to clients — or simply absorbing them.

It’s a very Agency Action conversation about AI, margins, clients, employees, and the uncomfortable question of what happens when the tools get better faster than the business can adapt.

Takeaways

• AI is starting to replace real agency tasks, not just assist with them.
• Human judgment still matters when AI gets something 80% right.
• AI can make WordPress sites faster by eliminating unnecessary bloat.
• Agencies may start replacing plugin stacks with custom AI-built solutions.
• Clients can turn small customizations into endless maintenance work.
• Professionalism still matters when AI handles more of the actual work.
• AI subscriptions can quietly become a major agency expense.
• Agencies need to figure out whether AI savings are actually improving margins.
• Better AI may make leaner agencies possible.
• The real challenge is knowing what to automate and what to keep human.

Important Links:

• Kurt’s Agency: Mañana No Mas 
• Toby’s Agency: The Mighty Mo! 
• Follow Kurt & Toby:
  LinkedIn: Kurt | Toby 
• Agency Action Podcast: thewpminute.com/subscribe
• Join us in Slack: The WP Minute Slack