Budget development remains one of the slowest steps in study activation, and much of the work is repetitive enough to automate. This session reviews where AI and rules-based automation are genuinely useful, including protocol parsing, calendar generation, procedure mapping, first-draft budget creation, and comparison against historical benchmarks, as well as where they still fall short. We will discuss how to validate outputs, what human review remains non-negotiable, and how to measure whether the tools are actually saving time. The session includes practical guidance on evaluating vendors and building internal capability. Attendees will leave with a grounded view of what is achievable today.