The questions
everyone actually asks.
Straight answers on AI automation and AI agents, superintelligence, SEO, AEO and GEO, and websites. Including the awkward ones: what it costs, who owns what, and what happens if you want to leave.
34 answers, last reviewed 11 October 2026. If your question isn't here, it is probably a good one. Ask it and you'll get an answer written by a founder, not a help centre article.
AI automation and AI agents.
What it is, what it costs, the Australian rules that apply and where a person stays in charge.
What is AI automation?
AI automation is software that moves a repeatable piece of work to its next step on its own, using an AI model where the step needs judgement, such as reading an enquiry or drafting a reply, and plain rules where it does not, such as sending a reminder at a set time. In a service business it earns its keep at the hand-offs: the after-hours enquiry, the quote that went quiet, the invoice nobody wants to chase. Our AI automation playbook shows how to choose the first one.
What is an AI agent, and how is it different from a chatbot?
A chatbot answers the question in front of it. An AI agent is given one job, such as getting a reply on a quote, and decides its next step within limits you set, using the tools it is connected to. That extra freedom is why it needs firmer limits: each of our agents answers only from information you have approved and hands over to a person when it is unsure. What is an AI agent? goes further.
How can AI help a small business?
It takes on the steps where work waits for someone to remember them. Each of our catalogue agents does one job: answering website questions out of hours, chasing an unpaid invoice, writing a plain-English summary of the week and, once our text messaging is live, following up quiet quotes, confirming bookings and asking for Google reviews. You start with the one hand-off that costs you most. The full catalogue lists every agent and its price.
How much does AI automation cost in Australia?
Ours is priced one agent at a time: a setup fee, then a monthly fee, from $349 to set up and from $89 a month, GST included. You can take one agent without the others, and your written quote confirms the final price before anything is built. The AI receptionist, which answers your phone line, is priced separately. Every figure is on the automation page, and the receptionist plans are on the AI receptionist page.
What is an AI receptionist?
A voice agent that answers your business phone line. Ours tells each caller it is an AI assistant, takes their name, number, suburb, what they need and a time that suits, reads the details back and emails them to you, with an alert while an urgent caller is still on the line. It runs on your existing number by call forwarding, from $599 a month plus setup, GST included. The AI receptionist page covers both plans, setup and how it compares with an answering service.
Will AI automation replace my staff?
That is not what it is for, and nobody can forecast the long run with certainty. What today's tools do well is take repetitive hand-offs off people, such as the follow-up email or the payment reminder, so their time goes to the work that needs judgement and a relationship with the customer. Anything going out in your name stays drafted for a person to approve by default.
Is AI automation allowed under Australian privacy and spam law?
Yes, when it is set up to follow the same rules a person would. The OAIC says the Privacy Act applies to personal information put into an AI system and to what it produces where that contains personal information, and that your privacy policy should say how you use AI (OAIC guidance). An automated follow-up by email or text that promotes your business is a commercial electronic message under the Spam Act, so it needs consent, clear sender details and an easy way to unsubscribe (ACMA). You are responsible under the Australian Consumer Law for what an AI tells a customer in your name. Some businesses with an annual turnover of $3 million or less are exempt from the Privacy Act, but health service providers are covered whatever their size (OAIC small business guidance). This is general information, not legal advice.
Will an AI agent send things without me seeing them?
Only where you've asked it to. Review replies and anything else going out in your name are drafted for your approval by default, and any agent can be switched off. We would rather it waited for you.
Will it work with the software we already use?
That is the idea. We connect each agent to the inbox, calendar and systems you already run rather than asking you to move, and we check whether your particular booking, job management or accounting software can be connected before we quote. If it cannot, the written scope says so.
How does an AI automation project start?
With the hand-off, not the tool. You show us where an enquiry, booking or follow-up waits on someone remembering it. We write a scope and quote for the smallest useful change, with the setup and monthly fee in writing, build it around your tools, test every hand-off to a person and have you approve the customer-facing words before a real customer meets it, and you can stop it whenever you like.
Can an AI agent text my customers?
Not yet. Seven of our agents are built to work by text message, and our SMS service is not live yet, so those seven will not message customers until it is. Your written quote states what runs from day one and when each can start.
Who owns an AI agent once it's built?
Your data, your accounts and everything you give us stay yours. Who owns the agent itself, and how long you may use it, is set out in your written agreement before anything is built.
Do I have to take the AI agents?
No. They're separate and entirely optional. A website that works is a complete job on its own, and you can add an agent later, if and when the follow-up becomes the thing holding you up.
Superintelligence, AGI and what comes next.
Plain answers with no forecast presented as fact. The sources are named in our superintelligence guide.
What is superintelligence?
Superintelligence, or artificial superintelligence (ASI), means an AI system that outperforms the best people at almost every kind of thinking work, across tasks rather than in one. The philosopher Nick Bostrom, whose 2014 book popularised the term, defined it as an intellect that greatly exceeds human performance in virtually all domains of interest. It does not exist today, and whether and when it arrives is disputed, including among the people building towards it.
What is the difference between AGI and ASI?
AGI is AI that can do most thinking work about as well as a capable person. ASI, or superintelligence, is AI that does it far better than the best people, in nearly every field. AGI is usually described as a step on the way to ASI, and neither has an agreed test.
Is superintelligence already here?
No. No existing system outperforms the best people across virtually all thinking work, and no major AI lab claims to have built one. Today's systems are strong at many language tasks and still make confident mistakes, so their output needs checking by someone who knows the business.
Should a business wait for AGI before using AI?
Waiting gives up the time today's tools can already save. The groundwork a more capable system would need (documented processes, information kept in systems rather than heads and clear approval points) is the same groundwork a simple automation needs now. Start small and reversible.
Does Pixelate build superintelligence?
No. We build AI automation and AI agents on today's models, each for a specific job inside a business, with a person approving what goes out. No product on sale today meets the definition of superintelligence, whatever its marketing says.
SEO, AEO and GEO.
How customers find a business now, through search results, direct answers and AI assistants.
What is the difference between SEO, AEO and GEO?
SEO, search engine optimisation, is ranking in the list of links on Google and Bing. AEO, answer engine optimisation, is being the source quoted when a system answers a question directly. GEO, generative engine optimisation, is being named by AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews. A business can do well at one and be invisible to the other two. Our SEO, AEO and GEO page sets them side by side.
How do I get my business recommended by ChatGPT or Google's AI Overviews?
Nobody can promise it, but you can remove the reasons you get left out. Make every page real HTML a crawler can read without running JavaScript, allow the AI crawlers by name in robots.txt, keep your business name, phone number and prices the same everywhere, answer one real question per section, mark facts up as structured data and publish an llms.txt summary. Our free audit checks most of this on your site.
Can you guarantee a top ranking on Google?
No, and neither can anyone else. Google's own guidance says no one can guarantee a number one ranking. The same holds for being quoted by an AI assistant. What we can do is fix what stops a site being read, trusted and quoted, and on an ongoing plan, report what changed each month.
How long does SEO take to work?
The technical fixes show up first. Once a page changes, Google's documentation says crawling can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, so that is the earliest anything can move. Rankings and AI citations build after that, and nobody can honestly put a date on them. We set up Search Console as part of the work, so you can see what moved and what did not.
How much does SEO cost?
Our one-off SEO, AEO and GEO setup starts at $899 for a site of up to about 10 pages, GST included, with no ongoing fee attached. Ongoing monthly work and the content programme are priced separately, and every option is listed on the SEO page.
Is llms.txt a ranking factor?
No. It is an emerging convention: a plain-text summary of what a business does and what it costs, written for AI assistants. It does not move rankings. We keep ours current, because an out-of-date one misleads the assistants it is there to help.
Websites: money, ownership and timing.
The ones that come up before anyone signs anything.
How much does a website cost?
Our website builds are $1,399 to $2,899 to set up, GST included, plus a monthly care plan for hosting, SSL, security, uptime monitoring and content updates. Every plan is priced on the pricing page, and our Brisbane website cost guide puts the options side by side.
Why is there a setup fee and a monthly plan?
The setup fee covers designing and building the site. The monthly care plan covers everything after that, which is hosting, SSL, security, uptime monitoring and the content updates you need along the way. A website is something you run rather than something you finish.
Do I own my website?
Your domain, your content, your images and your Google Business Profile are yours and stay yours. The website itself you're subscribing to rather than buying outright, and the care plan is what keeps it live. The precise wording is in our Terms, and it is worth a read before you sign.
How long does a build take?
Two answers, because there are two clocks. You see the free working mockup within 48 hours of our first conversation, and that part is a commitment. Going live comes after you have approved it and your content has reached us, and from there we aim to launch within 72 hours. What holds a build up is nearly always waiting on words and photographs rather than the building itself, so treat the launch timeframe as an estimate rather than a promise.
What if I haven't got any content?
That isn't a problem. We write and source what's missing, and full copywriting for every page is quoted separately. All we need to start is a proper conversation about what you do and who you do it for.
What happens if I want to leave?
The monthly rate comes down the longer the term, and month to month is available on every plan if you would rather keep your options open. The cancellation and refund terms are set out in Refunds & cancellations.
Can you take over a site someone else built?
Usually yes, including moving you off Wix, Squarespace or a GoDaddy builder, with every old page redirected to its new address and your email kept working along the way. Now and then a site is tangled enough that rebuilding costs you less than unpicking it, and we'll say so if that's what we find.
Working with Pixelate.
Who you deal with, where we work and what the prices include.
Who will I actually be dealing with?
A founder stays accountable for every job. You get a direct number rather than a shared inbox and a ticket number.
Do you only work with Brisbane businesses?
No. We are based in Brisbane and work with businesses across Australia, on websites, search, marketing and AI automation alike.
Is GST on top of your prices?
No. Every price we publish includes GST, so the number on the page is the number you pay. We're registered for GST and issue proper tax invoices.
Still got a question?
Send it through with whatever detail you have, and the answer comes back with a quote alongside it.