I don't think he's trying to make a semantic discussion.
He's trying to unpack various qualities: learning potential, reliability, predictability, tactile feedback, simple construction, etc. Then goes to define tools as those things that have these set of qualities, and automation as those that have these other set of qualities: it does something for you, takes the practice, learning and details away from you, harder to control and can get derailed, etc.
In some of his comment replies, he even says there's a spectrum from tool to automation, because he's focusing on those qualities more so than on the semantics.
He's trying to unpack various qualities: learning potential, reliability, predictability, tactile feedback, simple construction, etc. Then goes to define tools as those things that have these set of qualities, and automation as those that have these other set of qualities: it does something for you, takes the practice, learning and details away from you, harder to control and can get derailed, etc.
In some of his comment replies, he even says there's a spectrum from tool to automation, because he's focusing on those qualities more so than on the semantics.