Ask HN: If you would have a virtual assistant, what would you make him/her do? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: If you would have a virtual assistant, what would you make him/her do?

2 pointscosbgn9 comments

I'm curious to know what are the top things you would outsource to a virtual assistant

I'd make it do social media on my behalf, to boost my profile without having to do the work myself -- or being tempted to shitpost. I'd also get it to deal with tech recruiters and abuse them if they aren't naming the companies they represent and providing hard numbers on wages.

Hell, I'd let my virtual assistant deal with the entire internet so that I need no longer do so. It's thankless work best automated.

- Schedule my day - Filter email for actually important emails I may have missed - Check in periodically to keep my on task

- creating listicles while driving

- checking if I / my wife turned off the stove, locked the door, turned off the water leaving the house

- analyze sensor data, weather reports and camera images to answer questions like "Do I need to water the garden this morning?" or "How are the bees doing?"

Second is impossible for a virtual assistant no?

Image classification, flow meters, lock status, not impossible

Use AI + personal data + sensor data to suggest patterns or correlations in my life that may be helpful or harmful

Remind me of birthdays and prompt me to keep me in touch with people

Quiz me on subjects I am learning

Suggest meals based on what is in the pantry

Keep my shopping list up to date

Remind me of paperwork, bills and other deadlines

How these would actually work in real life? AI + data seems a data scientist job, not really something a virtual assistant could do. For meals & shopping list it would need physical access to your fridge no? For bills and paperwork also physical access is needed, right?

Sorry, I thought a virtual assistant was like Siri or Alexis. A home automation assistant.

I think at this stage I'd ask one to track certain people down and daily nag them to get back to me.

That's facetious. I'll have to give it some thought

Organise my whole life and laugh at my jokes.

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