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AI SDR

An AI SDR is software that takes on parts of a sales development rep's job: researching leads, writing first messages, reading the replies, answering them and handing a conversation to a person when it needs one.

Updated November 2026 · 4 min read · GetSales team

What an AI SDR does

Some products only write first messages. Others also work the conversation once someone replies. The jobs they take on:

  • Research. Reads a company's site and a person's role before writing, so the first line has a reason to exist.
  • First messages. Writes the opening email or LinkedIn message from that research.
  • Reply handling. Reads each reply, labels it (interested, not now, wrong person, do not contact) and picks the next step.
  • Answers. Drafts the reply from what the team has written down about the product, its customers and the usual objections.
  • Hand-offs. Passes the thread to a person when a question is beyond it, such as a contract term or a custom price.

Who approves the messages

In a co-pilot mode a person approves each draft before it goes out. That is the way to start, while you learn what it gets wrong. In an autonomous mode it sends on its own within limits you set.

In GetSales a new reply gets one of 15 labels, plus one of yours when it fits, with how sure it is and why, and each scenario sets its level: Autopilot sends on its own, within the caps you set. Copilot drafts and waits for your OK. Conditional reads your conditions first. By default it sends at most 4 messages on its own in a thread, then it hands the thread to you.

The rules that still apply

Its messages go out under your name, so the rules you already follow apply to them.

  • Opt-outs. In the US, the FTC's CAN-SPAM guide gives you 10 business days to honor an opt-out request.1 An AI SDR that reads "please remove me" has to act on it every time. In GetSales, Do not contact puts the person on your stoplist in either mode, a step no team can switch off.
  • Disclosure. The EU AI Act's transparency rules came into effect in August 2026. The European Commission's summary says people using an AI system such as a chatbot should be made aware that they are interacting with a machine.2 Ask your counsel how that applies to the messages your AI SDR sends.

Before you switch one on

  1. Write down what it may say. The claims it can make, the customer stories it can tell, and the questions it must always hand to a person, such as price.
  2. Give it the documents. The FAQ, the case studies, the objections your best rep answers every week. In GetSales, upload an FAQ or a case to Knowledge, or write a snippet. Before each answer it reads the pieces closest to what the lead wrote.
  3. Read a week of drafts. Fix the instructions where it goes wrong before it sends on its own.
  • The AI SDR in GetSales: reads the replies on its threads and drafts the answer.
  • Reply classification: one of 15 labels on each new reply in the AI SDR's threads, with how sure it is and why.
  • Unibox: every reply from every sender profile in one inbox.
  • Creator: builds the campaign and picks the table's AI SDR, or makes one.

Sources

  1. Federal Trade Commission, CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business, August 2023, edited January 2024. Read 28 October 2026.
  2. European Commission, AI Act, Shaping Europe's digital future, last update 19 October 2026. Read 28 October 2026.

Last updated: November 2026

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