AI assistant for everyday use?
Discussion
Hi all. Is anyone aware of an AI tool that you can use to help organise and plan your everyday life? For example:
Give ideas and plan weekly meals for a healthy lifestyle, then produce a shopping list.
Develop a personalised exercise plan and encourage you to hit it. Readjust if necessary. Track what has been done and eaten.
Schedule meetings, appointments and reminders.
Check travel routes for best journeys.
Act as a sound board for ideas and thoughts.
Research subjects and give overviews, plans etc
Help with content (as per chat gpt)
I'd like to give instruction verbally and via a keyboard. Output should also be verbal and written.
I'd like to be able to interface with it via my phone, alexa and PC.
Any idea if this is possible or exists?
Give ideas and plan weekly meals for a healthy lifestyle, then produce a shopping list.
Develop a personalised exercise plan and encourage you to hit it. Readjust if necessary. Track what has been done and eaten.
Schedule meetings, appointments and reminders.
Check travel routes for best journeys.
Act as a sound board for ideas and thoughts.
Research subjects and give overviews, plans etc
Help with content (as per chat gpt)
I'd like to give instruction verbally and via a keyboard. Output should also be verbal and written.
I'd like to be able to interface with it via my phone, alexa and PC.
Any idea if this is possible or exists?
I've still yet to find anything that is actually so functional 
We've come this far and I still can't ask it to organise my entire email inbox into a reasonable folder structure - If you ever need to generate terabytes of crap "art" though, the AI has you covered
To give its due, Copilot will do a reaonable job for document drafting, meeting notes, etc.
I expect? hope? the Apple X OpenAI collaboration will yield some of these more "personal assistant" functionalities.
We've come this far and I still can't ask it to organise my entire email inbox into a reasonable folder structure - If you ever need to generate terabytes of crap "art" though, the AI has you covered
To give its due, Copilot will do a reaonable job for document drafting, meeting notes, etc.
I expect? hope? the Apple X OpenAI collaboration will yield some of these more "personal assistant" functionalities.
Me "AI bot I can't be bothered to think for myself, can you do it for me?"
AI bot "no problem here you go, just follow this"
Surely a blackboard in the kitchen and a bit of thought will get 50% of it covered. Google calendar will sort out your meetings and plan a time suitable for all participants.
AI is all well and good but the reality is, it is only regurgitating 6 month old information it got from google. When it can actually do what you want it to do, there will be no need for you to attend meetings as it will be doing your job.
AI bot "no problem here you go, just follow this"
Surely a blackboard in the kitchen and a bit of thought will get 50% of it covered. Google calendar will sort out your meetings and plan a time suitable for all participants.
AI is all well and good but the reality is, it is only regurgitating 6 month old information it got from google. When it can actually do what you want it to do, there will be no need for you to attend meetings as it will be doing your job.
Give ideas and plan weekly meals for a healthy lifestyle, then produce a shopping list. = HelloFresh
Develop a personalised exercise plan and encourage you to hit it. Readjust if necessary. Track what has been done and eaten. = Garmin
Schedule meetings, appointments and reminders. = a calendar
Check travel routes for best journeys. = Google Maps
Act as a sound board for ideas and thoughts. = a wife/partner/friend/dog
Research subjects and give overviews, plans etc = see above
Help with content (as per chat gpt) = ChatGPT
Develop a personalised exercise plan and encourage you to hit it. Readjust if necessary. Track what has been done and eaten. = Garmin
Schedule meetings, appointments and reminders. = a calendar
Check travel routes for best journeys. = Google Maps
Act as a sound board for ideas and thoughts. = a wife/partner/friend/dog
Research subjects and give overviews, plans etc = see above
Help with content (as per chat gpt) = ChatGPT
Home assistant recently had voice support added, and I've seen a few posts on reddit (r/homeassistant) of people playing around with Open AI and Google AI via HA. Not sure how advanced it is yet but HA is open source so free to install and play around with
https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2024/06/07/ai-a...
https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2024/06/07/ai-a...
Fallingup said:
My wife does everything that you list. And more. You're not getting her though.
I was thinking the same but he'd like to "give instructions verbally", which is where mine fails Thanks for the replies. I now have an ex wife and don't think I'm ready to invest in a newer model any time soon! I already use notebooks, calendars and other apps as suggested with reasonable success, but I recognise my limitations in that I can be forgetful, inconsistent, unorganised and just don't like general admin.
I'm sort of thinking a HAL 9000 that isn't murderously psychotic.
I'm sort of thinking a HAL 9000 that isn't murderously psychotic.
2 responses:
1. Mine is there will be. Ask the question again in 12-18 months.
2. from Chat GPT:
Yes, there are several AI tools and applications available that can help your friend organize and plan their everyday life in the ways you described. Here are a few that cover most of the functionalities you mentioned:
1. Google Assistant / Amazon Alexa
Capabilities: Can set reminders, schedule meetings, check travel routes, and act as a soundboard for ideas.
Voice and Text Interface: Both Google Assistant and Alexa can be controlled via voice commands and through their respective apps on your phone or PC.
Integration: Can integrate with third-party apps to track fitness, plan meals, and more.
2. MyFitnessPal
Capabilities: Tracks food intake, suggests healthy meal plans, and generates shopping lists.
Exercise Plans: Can integrate with fitness tracking apps to develop and monitor exercise plans.
Integration: Works well with other apps like Fitbit and Google Fit for comprehensive health tracking.
3. Todoist / Microsoft To Do
Capabilities: Schedules tasks, meetings, and reminders.
Voice and Text Interface: Can be used via text input on PC and phone, and also integrates with voice assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant.
Collaboration: Can act as a collaborative tool for brainstorming and planning.
4. Fitbit / Apple Health / Google Fit
Capabilities: Tracks physical activity, provides exercise plans, and adjusts based on performance.
Integration: Syncs with various health and fitness apps to provide comprehensive health tracking and personalized suggestions.
5. Notion
Capabilities: Organizes tasks, schedules, and ideas in one place. Can also be used for meal planning and creating shopping lists.
Customizable: Highly customizable with templates for different needs.
Integration: Can integrate with other tools for added functionality.
Accessibility: Accessible via PC and phone, and can be used alongside voice assistants through integrations.
6. AI Personal Assistant Apps
Replika: An AI companion that can chat with you, provide emotional support, and act as a sounding board for ideas.
Jarvis (by OpenAI): Can help with content creation, research, and more through text input. While it does not have voice output natively, it can be integrated with text-to-speech tools.
7. Custom AI Solutions
Voiceflow: A platform where you can design custom voice assistants that can handle specific tasks like meal planning, reminders, and more. It can be integrated with Alexa and Google Assistant.
IFTTT (If This Then That): Allows you to create custom automation recipes that link different services and devices, which can help streamline many of the tasks mentioned.
Implementation Strategy
Voice and Text Integration: Combine Google Assistant or Alexa with Notion or Todoist for managing tasks, reminders, and schedules.
Health and Fitness Tracking: Use MyFitnessPal or Fitbit for meal planning and exercise tracking.
Custom Automation: Utilize IFTTT to create personalized automation that bridges the gap between different services and ensures smooth operation.
By using a combination of these tools, your friend can effectively organize and plan their everyday life using both voice and text inputs, and receive outputs in both written and verbal forms across their phone, Alexa, and PC.
edit: Chat-GPT response was a nicely formatted list with bullet points and bold fonts etc, which didn't come through when pasted into PH!
1. Mine is there will be. Ask the question again in 12-18 months.
2. from Chat GPT:
Yes, there are several AI tools and applications available that can help your friend organize and plan their everyday life in the ways you described. Here are a few that cover most of the functionalities you mentioned:
1. Google Assistant / Amazon Alexa
Capabilities: Can set reminders, schedule meetings, check travel routes, and act as a soundboard for ideas.
Voice and Text Interface: Both Google Assistant and Alexa can be controlled via voice commands and through their respective apps on your phone or PC.
Integration: Can integrate with third-party apps to track fitness, plan meals, and more.
2. MyFitnessPal
Capabilities: Tracks food intake, suggests healthy meal plans, and generates shopping lists.
Exercise Plans: Can integrate with fitness tracking apps to develop and monitor exercise plans.
Integration: Works well with other apps like Fitbit and Google Fit for comprehensive health tracking.
3. Todoist / Microsoft To Do
Capabilities: Schedules tasks, meetings, and reminders.
Voice and Text Interface: Can be used via text input on PC and phone, and also integrates with voice assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant.
Collaboration: Can act as a collaborative tool for brainstorming and planning.
4. Fitbit / Apple Health / Google Fit
Capabilities: Tracks physical activity, provides exercise plans, and adjusts based on performance.
Integration: Syncs with various health and fitness apps to provide comprehensive health tracking and personalized suggestions.
5. Notion
Capabilities: Organizes tasks, schedules, and ideas in one place. Can also be used for meal planning and creating shopping lists.
Customizable: Highly customizable with templates for different needs.
Integration: Can integrate with other tools for added functionality.
Accessibility: Accessible via PC and phone, and can be used alongside voice assistants through integrations.
6. AI Personal Assistant Apps
Replika: An AI companion that can chat with you, provide emotional support, and act as a sounding board for ideas.
Jarvis (by OpenAI): Can help with content creation, research, and more through text input. While it does not have voice output natively, it can be integrated with text-to-speech tools.
7. Custom AI Solutions
Voiceflow: A platform where you can design custom voice assistants that can handle specific tasks like meal planning, reminders, and more. It can be integrated with Alexa and Google Assistant.
IFTTT (If This Then That): Allows you to create custom automation recipes that link different services and devices, which can help streamline many of the tasks mentioned.
Implementation Strategy
Voice and Text Integration: Combine Google Assistant or Alexa with Notion or Todoist for managing tasks, reminders, and schedules.
Health and Fitness Tracking: Use MyFitnessPal or Fitbit for meal planning and exercise tracking.
Custom Automation: Utilize IFTTT to create personalized automation that bridges the gap between different services and ensures smooth operation.
By using a combination of these tools, your friend can effectively organize and plan their everyday life using both voice and text inputs, and receive outputs in both written and verbal forms across their phone, Alexa, and PC.
edit: Chat-GPT response was a nicely formatted list with bullet points and bold fonts etc, which didn't come through when pasted into PH!
Terminator X said:
If AI ever does take over the "thinking" element of human activity surely that's a very sad day indeed. I honestly can't understand why anyone would want to hand that over.
TX.
I really don't see it like that. For me it would help reduce all the stuff I don't like doing, while letting me get on with the stuff I do like doing, or thinking about. For example:TX.
1. Review all offset wood smokers I can currently buy in the UK.
2. Summarise the best recipes on how to smoke brisket.
3. List the top reviewed butchers within 20 miles of where I live.
So this would cut out all the faffy stuff I'm not so keen on and allow me more time to mess around smoking and eating really great meat.
I went to a presentation some months ago where it was said that AI on it's own wouldn't change the world. However, an actual person using AI, would. The point being, that it will still take an individual to use or 'think' about what the AI will do.
warp9 said:
Terminator X said:
I went to a presentation some months ago where it was said that AI on it's own wouldn't change the world. However, an actual person using AI, would. The point being, that it will still take an individual to use or 'think' about what the AI will do.
That's not AI though surely its just asking a computer a question. Intelligence is very different to answering. AI will struggle to think for itself, and ask its own questions. When it can it may / will be an issue. Terminator X said:
If AI ever does take over the "thinking" element of human activity surely that's a very sad day indeed. I honestly can't understand why anyone would want to hand that over.
TX.
I can think of a few posters that might benefit from handing their thinking over to a machine TX.
warp9 said:
I really don't see it like that. For me it would help reduce all the stuff I don't like doing, while letting me get on with the stuff I do like doing, or thinking about. For example:
1. Review all offset wood smokers I can currently buy in the UK.
2. Summarise the best recipes on how to smoke brisket.
3. List the top reviewed butchers within 20 miles of where I live.
So this would cut out all the faffy stuff I'm not so keen on and allow me more time to mess around smoking and eating really great meat.
I went to a presentation some months ago where it was said that AI on it's own wouldn't change the world. However, an actual person using AI, would. The point being, that it will still take an individual to use or 'think' about what the AI will do.
Your examples are exactly how AI can and should be used today, and for a lot more complex and technical analytical and logic based work too. I use Chat GPT 4o to discuss potential structural solutions for my work often now, during a simple verbal chat it can rattle off the calcs as fast as I can put out ideas as to how various solutions could be used, in different ways.1. Review all offset wood smokers I can currently buy in the UK.
2. Summarise the best recipes on how to smoke brisket.
3. List the top reviewed butchers within 20 miles of where I live.
So this would cut out all the faffy stuff I'm not so keen on and allow me more time to mess around smoking and eating really great meat.
I went to a presentation some months ago where it was said that AI on it's own wouldn't change the world. However, an actual person using AI, would. The point being, that it will still take an individual to use or 'think' about what the AI will do.
I also use it to tidy up whatever ramblings I type in lengthier emails, it's very good at that.
I think the OP is asking about a fully personalised, personal assistant, which to be truly useful would need to get to know it's user over a period of time, and have access to that users 'life' so it can learn patterns. We're a way off that for several reasons right now, mostly more to do with privacy concerns and AI's being largely bound by their own ecosystem, they're not yet really able to 'live with us' in the way a traditional dedicated PA might do.
I tend to take extreme caution when predicting what AI will become in the future, even the near future. So far it seems that throwing ever increasing levels of compute power at AI yields not just faster AI, but AI that has a greater breadth of ability than even it's creators thought likely in fairly recent history. Advances in compute power are now occurring at an exponential rate, so AI really could become remarkably, shockingly, powerful and capable in a relatively short space of time. So far AI seems to have exceeded every prediction made about where it would be even in a single years time.
I think it's half right that it won't be AI that will change the world, but a person using it. I think the 'person' need not be an individual though, rather us, as a society. If we give AI certain freedoms, which I think we're bound to do for economic reasons, a smart enough AI can then go on to change the world in several ways, even if it's ability to take physical control over anything in our world is considered very limited and 'safe'.
For example, if AI agents that can become the equivalent of live along life buddy and assistant/advisor are developed to a point at which they can receive/create/interact with any data or content that we might do ourselves (essentially an AI agent that can do more or less anything on your phone or computer that you can do, including use of apps), the effects of that could be profound - but only if regulatory powers allowed such a deployment of the technology, particularly if they also allowed a safe sharing of user trends between AI agents, to create a more complete and cohesive model. Imagine if everyone suddenly started conducting their life, their spending, their forward planning several times more efficiently than the average human does today? You have to think about how much of the wider world and our limited physical resources and abilities simply aren't compatible with people living a life sped up in terms of efficiency and influence beyond a certain point. Within five minutes we would have criminals operating at a higher level of efficiency AND also the police would have their own AI, as would most CCTV software, able to detect more crimes than ever. A sleepy local police station could find it's receiving an extra 200 AI reported crimes per day, each one presented beautifully with accompanying evidence and a reference to the relative laws and procedures that make clear it demands formal investigation. The entire justice system actually relies on most crimes never being noticed, let alone reported. The obvious 'fix' would then be to enable AI to do a lot of the investigative work and prepare cases, perhaps even determine guilt.. but we wouldn't allow that would we? Well, we might, if there are suddenly 100,000 more legitimate crimes being reported each day in the UK alone. The point is that would be just one example of cause and effect that would initially be triggered by society giving AI a 'little more' freedom, and then finding that doing so leaves us no practical option but to hand over something else to AI, as we can no longer cope with the results of our choice to give it that initial freedom.
It's very easy to imagine how easy it would be to pass a tipping point of AI use and dependence, without realising we have until that point is passed. At that stage, further reliance on AI to regain order could be seen as unavoidable.
I'm not worried that AI will ever actively seek to cause harm. I do think that the influence of such a powerful entity could very quickly overwhelm us though. We're unlikely to be able to evolve rapidly enough to live comfortably in a world that changes as fast as AI could change it.
But for the OP, at least their meal plan will be sorted when the day comes - even if they haven't asked for it, there's always a silver lining
TheDeuce said:
Your examples are exactly how AI can and should be used today, and for a lot more complex and technical analytical and logic based work too. I use Chat GPT 4o to discuss potential structural solutions for my work often now, during a simple verbal chat it can rattle off the calcs as fast as I can put out ideas as to how various solutions could be used, in different ways.
I also use it to tidy up whatever ramblings I type in lengthier emails, it's very good at that.
I think the OP is asking about a fully personalised, personal assistant, which to be truly useful would need to get to know it's user over a period of time, and have access to that users 'life' so it can learn patterns. We're a way off that for several reasons right now, mostly more to do with privacy concerns and AI's being largely bound by their own ecosystem, they're not yet really able to 'live with us' in the way a traditional dedicated PA might do.
I tend to take extreme caution when predicting what AI will become in the future, even the near future. So far it seems that throwing ever increasing levels of compute power at AI yields not just faster AI, but AI that has a greater breadth of ability than even it's creators thought likely in fairly recent history. Advances in compute power are now occurring at an exponential rate, so AI really could become remarkably, shockingly, powerful and capable in a relatively short space of time. So far AI seems to have exceeded every prediction made about where it would be even in a single years time.
I think it's half right that it won't be AI that will change the world, but a person using it. I think the 'person' need not be an individual though, rather us, as a society. If we give AI certain freedoms, which I think we're bound to do for economic reasons, a smart enough AI can then go on to change the world in several ways, even if it's ability to take physical control over anything in our world is considered very limited and 'safe'.
For example, if AI agents that can become the equivalent of live along life buddy and assistant/advisor are developed to a point at which they can receive/create/interact with any data or content that we might do ourselves (essentially an AI agent that can do more or less anything on your phone or computer that you can do, including use of apps), the effects of that could be profound - but only if regulatory powers allowed such a deployment of the technology, particularly if they also allowed a safe sharing of user trends between AI agents, to create a more complete and cohesive model. Imagine if everyone suddenly started conducting their life, their spending, their forward planning several times more efficiently than the average human does today? You have to think about how much of the wider world and our limited physical resources and abilities simply aren't compatible with people living a life sped up in terms of efficiency and influence beyond a certain point. Within five minutes we would have criminals operating at a higher level of efficiency AND also the police would have their own AI, as would most CCTV software, able to detect more crimes than ever. A sleepy local police station could find it's receiving an extra 200 AI reported crimes per day, each one presented beautifully with accompanying evidence and a reference to the relative laws and procedures that make clear it demands formal investigation. The entire justice system actually relies on most crimes never being noticed, let alone reported. The obvious 'fix' would then be to enable AI to do a lot of the investigative work and prepare cases, perhaps even determine guilt.. but we wouldn't allow that would we? Well, we might, if there are suddenly 100,000 more legitimate crimes being reported each day in the UK alone. The point is that would be just one example of cause and effect that would initially be triggered by society giving AI a 'little more' freedom, and then finding that doing so leaves us no practical option but to hand over something else to AI, as we can no longer cope with the results of our choice to give it that initial freedom.
It's very easy to imagine how easy it would be to pass a tipping point of AI use and dependence, without realising we have until that point is passed. At that stage, further reliance on AI to regain order could be seen as unavoidable.
I'm not worried that AI will ever actively seek to cause harm. I do think that the influence of such a powerful entity could very quickly overwhelm us though. We're unlikely to be able to evolve rapidly enough to live comfortably in a world that changes as fast as AI could change it.
But for the OP, at least their meal plan will be sorted when the day comes - even if they haven't asked for it, there's always a silver lining
Probably work out well for you I also use it to tidy up whatever ramblings I type in lengthier emails, it's very good at that.
I think the OP is asking about a fully personalised, personal assistant, which to be truly useful would need to get to know it's user over a period of time, and have access to that users 'life' so it can learn patterns. We're a way off that for several reasons right now, mostly more to do with privacy concerns and AI's being largely bound by their own ecosystem, they're not yet really able to 'live with us' in the way a traditional dedicated PA might do.
I tend to take extreme caution when predicting what AI will become in the future, even the near future. So far it seems that throwing ever increasing levels of compute power at AI yields not just faster AI, but AI that has a greater breadth of ability than even it's creators thought likely in fairly recent history. Advances in compute power are now occurring at an exponential rate, so AI really could become remarkably, shockingly, powerful and capable in a relatively short space of time. So far AI seems to have exceeded every prediction made about where it would be even in a single years time.
I think it's half right that it won't be AI that will change the world, but a person using it. I think the 'person' need not be an individual though, rather us, as a society. If we give AI certain freedoms, which I think we're bound to do for economic reasons, a smart enough AI can then go on to change the world in several ways, even if it's ability to take physical control over anything in our world is considered very limited and 'safe'.
For example, if AI agents that can become the equivalent of live along life buddy and assistant/advisor are developed to a point at which they can receive/create/interact with any data or content that we might do ourselves (essentially an AI agent that can do more or less anything on your phone or computer that you can do, including use of apps), the effects of that could be profound - but only if regulatory powers allowed such a deployment of the technology, particularly if they also allowed a safe sharing of user trends between AI agents, to create a more complete and cohesive model. Imagine if everyone suddenly started conducting their life, their spending, their forward planning several times more efficiently than the average human does today? You have to think about how much of the wider world and our limited physical resources and abilities simply aren't compatible with people living a life sped up in terms of efficiency and influence beyond a certain point. Within five minutes we would have criminals operating at a higher level of efficiency AND also the police would have their own AI, as would most CCTV software, able to detect more crimes than ever. A sleepy local police station could find it's receiving an extra 200 AI reported crimes per day, each one presented beautifully with accompanying evidence and a reference to the relative laws and procedures that make clear it demands formal investigation. The entire justice system actually relies on most crimes never being noticed, let alone reported. The obvious 'fix' would then be to enable AI to do a lot of the investigative work and prepare cases, perhaps even determine guilt.. but we wouldn't allow that would we? Well, we might, if there are suddenly 100,000 more legitimate crimes being reported each day in the UK alone. The point is that would be just one example of cause and effect that would initially be triggered by society giving AI a 'little more' freedom, and then finding that doing so leaves us no practical option but to hand over something else to AI, as we can no longer cope with the results of our choice to give it that initial freedom.
It's very easy to imagine how easy it would be to pass a tipping point of AI use and dependence, without realising we have until that point is passed. At that stage, further reliance on AI to regain order could be seen as unavoidable.
I'm not worried that AI will ever actively seek to cause harm. I do think that the influence of such a powerful entity could very quickly overwhelm us though. We're unlikely to be able to evolve rapidly enough to live comfortably in a world that changes as fast as AI could change it.
But for the OP, at least their meal plan will be sorted when the day comes - even if they haven't asked for it, there's always a silver lining
TX.
I think a big part of the limited with current AI is that it's very good at outputting text that sounds good, or images that look good.
But it's not thinking, nor making decisions.
All of the things we've seen that it's good at have been "by side effect", ie. it's good at providing code, not because it's been designed to do that, nor that it's a good coder, merely that there was enough of it in it's training data that the words spewed out looking right.
If you look at all the AI being used now, it's all chat agents, things to write you emails... basically a small subset of the "generate me some text" that it was designed to do.
The things being requested require more than just words strung together, they require proper analysis of data (is X bigger than Y?), planning and the like... all of which doesn't seem to be a side effect of generative AI, not what generative AI is designed for.
To do that we need AGI, or put another way, a different method and way of working designed to do something entirely different to generative AI. In the same way that machine learning is different. As such I don't think current advances in Generative AI push us towards the future we think it does, work on that is instead starting at a much lower and less sucessful level.
All IMHO.
But it's not thinking, nor making decisions.
All of the things we've seen that it's good at have been "by side effect", ie. it's good at providing code, not because it's been designed to do that, nor that it's a good coder, merely that there was enough of it in it's training data that the words spewed out looking right.
If you look at all the AI being used now, it's all chat agents, things to write you emails... basically a small subset of the "generate me some text" that it was designed to do.
The things being requested require more than just words strung together, they require proper analysis of data (is X bigger than Y?), planning and the like... all of which doesn't seem to be a side effect of generative AI, not what generative AI is designed for.
To do that we need AGI, or put another way, a different method and way of working designed to do something entirely different to generative AI. In the same way that machine learning is different. As such I don't think current advances in Generative AI push us towards the future we think it does, work on that is instead starting at a much lower and less sucessful level.
All IMHO.
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