Understanding monday.com AI Blocks: Pre-built actions for smarter workflows

Part 2 of 8: Understanding monday.com AI Products

Imagine building a house. You could manufacture every component from scratch—mold your own bricks, forge your own nails, craft each window frame individually. Or you could use pre-made building blocks designed by experts, tested across thousands of projects, ready to assemble into exactly what you need.

AI Blocks work the same way. Instead of building custom AI capabilities from scratch or integrating complex external tools, you can use ready-made AI actions that slot directly into your workflows, columns, and automations.

In Part 1, we explored AI Workflows—the orchestration layer that makes work run autonomously. AI Blocks are what power that intelligence. They’re the modular components that perform specific AI tasks, from analyzing sentiment to extracting data, generating summaries to improving text.

What AI Blocks actually are

The core concept

AI Blocks are pre-built AI-powered actions designed to integrate seamlessly into any workflow within monday.com. Think of them as intelligent LEGO pieces—standardized, reusable components that each perform a specific function.

Unlike traditional automation that simply moves data or triggers notifications, AI Blocks add intelligence to your processes. They can:

• Read and understand text
• Generate new content based on your instructions
• Classify and categorize information
• Extract specific data from unstructured content
• Analyze sentiment in customer communications
• Improve and polish existing text

Where you can use them

AI Blocks aren't limited to one part of the platform. They work across:

AI-powered columns: Automatically process data as new items are added to your board

Automations: Trigger intelligent actions based on specific conditions

Workflow builder: Orchestrate complex multi-step processes with embedded AI capabilities

This flexibility means you can apply the same AI Block in multiple contexts, ensuring consistency while saving configuration time.

The problem AI blocks solve

1. Repetitive manual data processing

Every business deals with unstructured data that needs human review. Customer feedback needs categorization. Support tickets require priority assessment. Meeting notes need summarization.

Without AI Blocks, someone manually reads each item, interprets it, and takes appropriate action. This doesn't scale, creates inconsistency, and wastes valuable time on work that follows predictable patterns.

2. Custom development overhead

Traditional approach to adding AI capabilities:

• Research and select appropriate AI services
• Build API integrations
• Write custom code for each use case
• Handle authentication and error management
• Maintain integrations as APIs evolve

AI Blocks eliminate this entirely. The capabilities are built-in, tested, and maintained by monday.com.

3. Inconsistency across processes

When different team members handle similar tasks, results vary. One person categorizes a customer inquiry as "urgent," another sees it as "normal priority." Sentiment interpretation differs based on who's reviewing.

AI Blocks apply consistent logic every time, using the same criteria and analysis methods regardless of volume or timing.

4. Integration complexity

Many organizations use external AI tools—ChatGPT for content, sentiment analysis APIs, data extraction services. Each requires:

• Separate subscriptions
• Authentication management
• Data security considerations
• Training for team members
• Context switching between platforms

AI Blocks consolidate these capabilities within the platform you're already using.

Where AI Blocks add value

High-volume content processing: When hundreds of items need intelligent categorization, summarization, or routing

Quality assurance workflows: When text quality matters and manual review is time-consuming

Customer data analysis: When understanding sentiment and urgency drives better service

Data enrichment tasks: When transforming raw input into structured, usable information matters

How AI Blocks work

Categories of available AI Blocks

AI Blocks are organized by function, making it easy to find the right tool for your need:

Text generation

Write with AI: Generate content based on your specific instructions and variables from your board

Improve text: Polish existing content—fix grammar, adjust tone, enhance clarity

Translate: Convert text between languages automatically

Text analysis

Summarize: Condense long text into key points—customizable length and focus

Summarize updates: Auto-summarize update threads on each item, distilling discussion history into clear takeaways. Distinct from general Summarize, which works on text content

Extract information: Pull specific data points from unstructured text in columns

Extract from file: Pull key details directly from uploaded files such as PDFs or documents. Distinct from Extract information, which works on text columns

Detect sentiment: Identify whether text is positive, negative, or neutral

Classification & organization

Assign labels: Automatically categorize items based on their content

Assign people: AI suggests the best team member for a task based on context, skills, and availability

Prioritize with AI: AI ranks tasks based on type, urgency, or sentiment, helping teams focus on what matters most

Web-enhanced actions

Search the web: Find current information to enrich your automated processes

Custom AI prompt: Build your own AI-powered actions using natural language instructions

How to implement AI Blocks

From AI-powered columns:

• Navigate to Column Center on your board
• Select the AI-powered tab
• Choose the AI Block that matches your need
• Configure with your specific instructions

From the automation center:

• Open automation on your board
• Click Create → AI-powered tab
• Select from available AI automation templates
• Customize conditions and actions

Within the workflow builder:

• Create or edit a workflow
• Add an AI Block as an action step
• Configure inputs and desired outputs
• Connect to other workflow steps

Customization options

Each AI Block accepts parameters that control its behavior:

Tone selection: Professional, casual, empathetic, direct

Length preferences: Concise, medium, detailed

Specific instructions: Custom prompts that guide the AI's behavior

Variable integration: Pull data from any column or workflow step

The platform provides preview functionality—you can see what the AI will generate before activating the automation or column, allowing for refinement until it's exactly right.

Potential use cases

Text processing and enhancement

Content creation workflow: When sales closes a deal, AI Blocks generate a personalized welcome email, create onboarding documentation customized to the purchased service, and prepare internal project briefings—all from the deal details.

Documentation standardization: Engineering notes get automatically transformed into standardized technical documentation with consistent formatting, proper terminology, and appropriate detail level.

Content classification and routing

Support ticket triage: Incoming customer inquiries are analyzed for sentiment, urgency, and topic. AI Blocks automatically assign priority levels, route to appropriate specialists, and flag VIP customers—all before human review.

Lead qualification: Marketing forms get intelligent scoring based on content analysis. AI Blocks detect buying intent, identify decision-maker language, and categorize by industry fit, routing qualified leads immediately while nurturing others.

Sentiment analysis for customer data

Feedback monitoring: Customer reviews, survey responses, and support interactions get sentiment analysis. Negative sentiment triggers immediate alerts, neutral feedback goes to standard review queues, and positive feedback generates outreach opportunities.

Team morale tracking: Anonymous employee feedback is analyzed for sentiment trends, allowing leadership to identify issues proactively while maintaining confidentiality.

Data extraction and enrichment

Contract processing: AI Blocks extract key dates, values, and terms from uploaded contracts, auto-populating deal boards with critical information and setting renewal reminders.

Resume screening: Job application details get extracted and standardized—skills, experience years, education—creating structured candidate profiles from unstructured submissions.

What to consider before using AI Blocks

Data quality requirements

AI Blocks work best with clear, complete inputs. Fragmented data, unclear text, or missing context reduces accuracy. Review your source data quality before implementing AI Blocks at scale.

Credit and usage considerations

AI Blocks actions consume AI credits. Each action uses approximately 8 credits. For organizations with higher volumes, monday.com offers credit buckets starting from 8,000 credits at $1,000/month up to 2,000,000 credits at $20,000/month on annual plans.

For high-volume implementations:

• Calculate expected monthly usage
• Understand your plan’s credit allocation
• Consider credit add-ons if needed
• Monitor usage through platform analytics

When to use vs. custom solutions

Use AI Blocks when:

• The task fits a common pattern (summarize, classify, detect sentiment)
• Speed to implementation matters
• You want platform-native capabilities
• Consistent application across many items is important

Consider custom solutions when:

• Your need is highly specialized
• You require specific AI models or training
• Integration with unique external systems is necessary
• Advanced customization beyond AI Block parameters is required

Testing and validation needs

Start small, validate, then scale:

1. Test with sample data to verify accuracy
2. Review AI-generated outputs against human judgment
3. Refine instructions and parameters
4. Gradually increase volume
5. Monitor quality over time

Don't assume perfect accuracy—AI Blocks are powerful but not infallible. Build review processes for critical decisions.

Starting approach

Begin with a single, high-value use case:

• Identify one repetitive task that consumes significant time
• Implement one AI Block to handle it
• Measure time savings and accuracy
• Learn from this first implementation
• Expand to additional use cases

This builds organizational confidence and capability before widespread deployment.

How CXLABS can help

As a monday.com Silver Partner with deep AI automation expertise, CXLABS helps organizations identify the highest-value opportunities for AI Blocks, design implementations that balance automation with necessary oversight, and train teams to confidently use and refine AI capabilities.

We don't just configure features—we help you think strategically about where intelligence adds value and how to deploy it effectively.

What's next in this series

AI Blocks give you building blocks to create AI-powered automation across any workflow. But what if those AI capabilities could go deeper—understanding the specific context of CRM vs. project management vs. service delivery? That's where monday.com Product Power-ups come in.

In Part 3, we'll explore how product power-ups deliver workflow-specific intelligence embedded in each monday.com product—so your CRM gets sales-focused AI, your service boards get support-focused AI, and your project boards get risk-focused AI.

Ready to add intelligence to your workflows with AI Blocks? Contact CXLABS to discuss how we can help you implement AI-powered automation that delivers measurable results.

About this series

This is Part 2 of our 8-part series exploring monday.com AI products. In part 3, we'll explore AI power-ups: the product-specific AI features that transform how you work in each monday.com environment.

Other articles in this series:

• Part 1: AI Workflows
• Part 2: AI Blocks (you are here)
• Part 3: Product Power-ups (coming soon)
• Part 4: monday sidekick (coming soon)
• Part 5: monday vibe (coming soon)
• Part 6: AI Notetaker (coming soon)
• Part 7: MCP (coming soon)
• Part 8: monday agents (coming soon)