// verdict · checked 2026-08-11 · AI SDR category, vendor marketing and docs surveyed Aug 2026
AI SDRs (as a species)
~400 startups
500 personalized emails that all start with 'I noticed you...'. A cron job with a quota.
- CAPABILITY
- 2/5 WRAPPER WITH AMBITION
- PROOF
- DOCS CLAIMEDThe vendor's documentation states it and we read the page; we did not watch it happen
- TRACE ACCESS
- VENDOR-ONLYSteps appear in a demo or worked example you cannot run
- LEASH
- Not measuredno execution record scored — measure it yourself
| LOOPSruns until doneno | Vendors describe fixed cadences (e.g. 3 emails, 2 days apart) that stop on reply, not a goal-driven loop. |
| CHOOSESpicks its own toolsno | Steps, channels and timing come from the sequence builder you configure; runtime choice is undocumented. |
| ACTSchanges the worldyes | Ships real state change: Ava sends from the customer's own team email addresses and books meetings on their calendar; 11x/AiSDR likewise send email and LinkedIn touches, not drafts. |
| RECOVERSfixes its own errorsno | No vendor documents self-correction; the standard guidance is to route replies and edge cases to a human. |
| UNSUPERVISEDnobody watchingyes | Artisan's help docs define a named Autopilot setting that sends 'without manual approval', versus Copilot which 'requires your review and approval before sending'; 11x documents the same split. |
Capability decisions combine documented behaviour and execution evidence. The proof label on each row shows which of the two decided it, and Leash is reported separately, only when it was measured from an execution record. Primary source: www.artisan.co. Tested against: AI SDR category, vendor marketing and docs surveyed Aug 2026. Our confidence in this dossier: 4/10.
Can you see it work?
the weakest of the five grades aboveDOCS CLAIMED — The vendor's documentation states it and we read the page; we did not watch it happen. Trace access: VENDOR-ONLY — Steps appear in a demo or worked example you cannot run.
Approval queues show drafts and research; no run trace with tool calls or errors.
Where we looked: Artisan Ava product+Ava 2.0 pages, AiSDR platform page, 11x API page, Regie.ai help center, Qualified Piper docs, and Unify's AI-SDR evaluation checklist on reasoning-trace writeback. · see the evidence → · re-checked by a second pass built to overturn it
No revisions yet. This verdict has stood since 2026-08-11.
Think this is wrong?
bring evidence, not opinionName the criterion and link a trace, a doc, or a recorded run that shows the behaviour. A verdict changed by evidence is the best thing that can happen to this site, and the change goes on the public record with your reason attached. Vendors are welcome, and a vendor's own filing is labelled as such rather than buried.