Productivity AI assistant that tries to stop you from wasting time

[thenondualtankie]

Obviously we already have ways to block useless websites such as this one , but what if you had a productivity assistant AI that:

• Is told what goals need to be accomplished today
• Observes what you are doing and lets you know if you're wasting time. The problem with outright blocking, for instance, reddit, is that sometimes you need a specific reddit page for productive purposes. The AI would be able to discern between whether you're wasting time or not.
• Integrates across all your devices
• Provides a way to manage all of your technology use at once. One of the problems I face with productivity tools is that I have to do like 10 different things to get my computer into full distraction-free productivity mode. I have to sign out of Discord, block "bad" websites, and enable an extension that turns YouTube into just a search bar. I don't necessarily do all of this every single time because that would be annoying, but it would be nice if you could have a single button you press and it turns all of your devices into "distraction-free" mode in an intelligent manner based on what you've told it you should be doing at this moment.
• Dynamically creates schedules, reminders. Allows the user to adjust these, of course. For example, if you tell someone important you'll have a meeting with them, the AI should prompt you whether you'd like to be reminded of this when it happens.

Should I work on building this? Obviously there are major potential issues with this, at least the way I've presented it. What stops me from selling all your data to Mark Zuckerberg? Obviously one would hope that, if someone builds such a tool, it takes privacy very seriously. Another issue is that the AI might feel very invasive even if it doesn't give your data away, just because the whole point is that the AI always has at least a rough idea of what you're doing.

Do you guys have any ideas on how this could be expanded on? 

[Buck Edwards]

@thenondualtankie is Google assistant like that or somewhere closer? 

[thenondualtankie]

It's similar to Google Assistant in the sense that it has access to your entire device, i.e. it's like an app that runs alongside your entire device usage.

However its main goal is to help you stay productive. This means the AI will take a much more proactive role in communicating with you. For example, you try to access a "bad" website and the AI has to block you, or at least ask why you're trying to go on this website.

I guess the idea of a more proactive Google Assistant is something that can be applied more generally. Imagine Windows was fully integrated with ChatGPT for instance, that could be quite useful. However I'm thinking more along the lines of productivity and staying focused.

[EdgeGod900]

Be very careful with not just privacy, but security as well. You need to prioritize security(ie. encryption and such) as one of the constraints as well. If user data gets hacked, you might get a shit tons of lawsuits.

In any case, I think the tasks that your AI can do, can be done by people themselves, to the point where it becomes second nature to them. I'm not going to be your typical market since I think reading and integrating the ideas from Cal Newport's book, "Deep Work", solves all these issues -- might take some practice but I think I can do all these tasks where  I can do them without much overhead/effort eventually.

[mostly harmless]

Integration with your smart home. The door of your office or your fridge remain shut until you have done your homework. Your smart car won't drive you anywhere. Your social media access is off. You won't be able to buy anything at shops.

Some organization might be interested setting the work agenda for you.

 

 

Edited September 27, 2023 by mostly harmless