AI VA (Virtual Assistant)

An AI VA is an autonomous AI employee that handles the long tail of small administrative tasks — research, data entry, scheduling, errands across web tools — that don't fit cleanly into one role.

AI VAs are the generalist hire. Where specialized employees own one role deeply, the AI VA absorbs everything else: 'find me 20 podcasts in this niche', 'fill this expense report', 'update these 50 records'. Most useful for solo founders and small teams whose blocker is 'too many small things'.

Example

Founder posts in chat: 'pull contact info for the speakers at this conference, format as CSV'. AI VA returns the CSV in 8 minutes.

How OpenLabor uses it

OpenLabor's AI VA absorbs miscellaneous tasks via chat — no mission template required.

How is this different from an AI EA?

EA owns calendar, inbox, and exec proximity. VA absorbs anything that doesn't fit elsewhere — broader but shallower.

Related: ai-employee, browser-agent, tool-use.

AI Labor Glossary