If you develop automations with Python, you know that adding artificial intelligence (AI) to your workflows is a game changer. But what you might not know is that you don’t always need to invest in large packages or paid solutions.
In this article, we’ll list the best free AI APIs that can be integrated with Python. We’ll also show how they connect to automation and why they’re a great fit for those using BotCity in their projects.
Why integrate AI APIs into Python automations?
AI allows bots and automation flows to perform smarter, more contextual tasks—like interpreting an email, extracting key data from PDFs, autonomously organizing information, or even conversing with users.
With Python, this becomes even easier, and using ready-made APIs accelerates development without relying on large in-house structures.
The best free AI APIs to use with Python
If you’re looking to add intelligence to your Python automation flows, using free AI APIs is a great place to start. Whether you want to process text, interpret images, or transcribe audio, these solutions offer pre-trained models ready to deploy.
Here are some of the best options to integrate into your intelligent automation projects:
1. OpenAI API
OpenAI offers some of the world’s most advanced language models, like ChatGPT and GPT-4. Even with limitations on free plans, you can perform tasks like text generation, summarization, translation, data extraction, and automated responses with just a few commands in Python.
The openai-python library makes it easy to integrate with automated scripts—ideal for RPA flows involving customer service, text analysis, or contextual content creation.
Python integration example:
import openai openai.api_key = 'sua_chave_openai' response = openai.ChatCompletion.create( model="gpt-3.5-turbo", messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Resuma o conceito de RPA em 3 frases."}] ) print(response['choices'][0]['message']['content']) import openai
2. Hugging Face
Hugging Face hosts hundreds of open-source AI models for natural language processing, computer vision, translation, classification, and more. The free Inference API allows you to use these models directly via HTTP requests.
What sets it apart is the diversity and ease of integration with Python—you can create bots that analyze sentiment or perform OCR on PDFs, for example.
Python integration example:
import requests API_URL = "https://api-inference.huggingface.co/models/distilbert-base-uncased-finetuned-sst-2-english" headers = {"Authorization": "Bearer sua_chave_huggingface"} response = requests.post(API_URL, headers=headers, json={"inputs": "O atendimento foi ótimo!"}) print(response.json())
3. Google Cloud Vision API
Google’s Cloud Vision enables you to extract rich information from images: object recognition, OCR, logo detection, and more. The Google Cloud free tier offers credits that let you test the API in real projects with low volume.
With Python, you can combine the API with BotCity automations to extract text from invoices, identify products in photos, or even categorize images received through internal systems.
Python integration example:
from google.cloud import vision import io client = vision.ImageAnnotatorClient() with io.open("imagem.png", "rb") as image_file: content = image_file.read() image = vision.Image(content=content) response = client.text_detection(image=image) for text in response.text_annotations: print(text.description)
4. AssemblyAI
Specialized in audio-to-text transcription, AssemblyAI offers one of the best voice recognition APIs. Besides transcription, it also provides sentiment analysis, topic detection, and audio content moderation.
On the free tier, you can test up to 5 hours per month. With Python, you can automate the collection of recorded meetings or create real-time voice tracking workflows.
Python integration example:
import requests API_KEY = "sua_chave_assemblyai" headers = {"authorization": API_KEY} upload_url = requests.post( "https://api.assemblyai.com/v2/upload", headers=headers, files={"file": open("audio.mp3", "rb")} ).json()["upload_url"] response = requests.post( "https://api.assemblyai.com/v2/transcript", headers=headers, json={"audio_url": upload_url} ) print(response.json())
5. Stability AI API
Stability AI is known for its image generation models, such as Stable Diffusion. The API allows you to transform prompts into high-quality images using generative AI.
It’s ideal for those looking to explore creative automations, like generating banners, mockups, illustrations, or even automated promotional materials with Python.
Python integration example:
import requests headers = { "Authorization": "Bearer sua_chave_stability", "Content-Type": "application/json" } data = { "text_prompts": [{"text": "um robô futurista trabalhando em um escritório"}], "cfg_scale": 7, "clip_guidance_preset": "FAST_BLUE", "height": 512, "width": 512, "samples": 1, "steps": 30 } response = requests.post( "https://api.stability.ai/v1/generation/stable-diffusion-v1-5/text-to-image", headers=headers, json=data ) print(response.json())
6. Clarifai API
Clarifai offers a visual AI platform focused on computer vision and machine learning. You can use pre-trained models or train your own. Applications range from object detection to video analysis.
The free API gives access to facial recognition, image classification, and segmentation features, with SDKs compatible with Python.
Python integration example:
from clarifai.client.model import Model from clarifai.client.auth import create_stub stub = create_stub("sua_api_key") model = Model("https://clarifai.com/clarifai/main/models/general-image-recognition") response = model.predict_by_url("https://samples.clarifai.com/metro-north.jpg") for concept in response.outputs[0].data.concepts: print(f"{concept.name}: {concept.value:.2f}")
How to integrate these APIs with BotCity?
BotCity allows you to automate processes with pure Python, which means you can easily use any of these APIs in your RPA, orchestration, and desktop/web automation routines.
Use cases:
- Transcribe audio with AssemblyAI and automatically store results.
- Perform OCR with Hugging Face and extract data from PDFs via RPA.
- Analyze sentiment in feedback using Cohere and trigger alerts with bots.
All set on free AI APIs for Python?
You don’t need to spend thousands to bring AI into your automations. With the right free APIs, you can test, validate, and even operate production workflows with more intelligence and autonomy.
If you’re already working with Python automations or want to expand what BotCity bots can do, integrating an AI API is a strategic step. Create a free account on BotCity and start using the platform today!
