How Notion Built the Best AI Agents for Work - Full Tutorial

Learn how Notion's co-founder Akshay and AI lead Ryan built industry-leading AI agents through this in-depth interview and tutorial. Discover the two-year journey of failures and breakthroughs that led to creating AI agents capable of building databases, responding to Slack messages, and performing complex workplace tasks. Watch live demonstrations of databases building themselves in real-time and see how Akshay creates documentation by speaking to AI 90% of the time. Explore the critical differences between ineffective AI tools and genuinely useful AI agents, understand how to personalize agents with custom memory and instructions, and observe the creation of a custom Notion agent for Slack integration. Gain insights into Notion's hiring practices for AI-native builders and learn practical strategies for implementing AI agents that actually deliver value in professional environments.

Syllabus

00:00 What it really took to build agents that actually work
01:38 Live demo: Watch a database build itself in real-time
04:56 How Akshay writes docs by just talking to AI 90% of the time
20:15 The real difference between AI slop and useful AI agents
34:43 Personalizing agents with custom memory and instructions
39:59 Live demo: Building a custom Notion agent for Slack
49:03 What Notion looks for when hiring AI-native builders