Meet Amy Ingram, my AI assistant.
The etiquette (or lack thereof) of having an “artificially intelligent” assistant.
I’m a founder. I like to say I build things for a living, but the reality is I have two brilliant partners and a growing team of people who build the things; I just tell the world about the awesome shit my guys do. If anything, I build trust, rapport, and relationships. I like to joke that I get paid to run my mouth, but more and more I’m realizing that I’m only slightly joking. My life revolves around having conversations with people — users, partners, investors — in order to move the needle for our business.
Recently I came to the conclusion that a HUGE chunk of my time is spent scheduling the meetings where I can actually connect with people. If I weren’t at a startup (read: broke) I’d be able to justify hiring someone to schedule my life. Maybe one day I will. Most of us have come across Tim Ferris’ suggestion of outsourcing your schedule/life to a VA, but for those who don’t go that route, what’s the next option?
Last week as I prepped for a trip to NYC, I scheduled a couple meetings with mentors and investors. A buddy connected me to Brian Aoaeh over at KEC Ventures and after we exchanged hellos via email, he had his assistant Amy set up our meeting. Amy, as it turns out, is an AI assistant. Over coffee Brian and I discussed life, startups, and, of course, the benefit of using Amy to get things on his calendar. According to Brian, the last time he checked in with Amy, she was in the middle of scheduling a number of meetings that would have taken him over THREE hours of calendar ping-pong that week to get on the books. Over three hours. Imagine the other things you could be doing with that time. Reading articles, writing a blog post, working through strategy with the team, catching up on much needed sleep. For those of us who spend our time connecting with people, the biggest time-suck is actually connecting with people. Crazy, right?
I love the concept of freeing up time so following our meeting I signed up for Amy. The next day (thanks to the crew at x.ai and a nudge from Brian) I was in. Amy Ingram is now my very own personal assistant! We’re working out some kinks as she learns about me — my preferred meeting times and locations, my phone number for scheduling calls, my office address, the buffer of time I need between meetings. I’m enjoying the experience except for one part — the etiquette. For one, I find myself asking Amy very nicely to do things, which I feel is a little bit silly. I can just tell her things, right? She’s a machine. Is she really even a “she”? It’s a weird concept to wrap my head around.
The second and more important piece is how I refer to and use Amy out in the real world. This week I reached out to a mentor to grab beers and he passed me on to his human assistant to get something on the calendar. Part of me wants to use Amy to coordinate with his assistant, but the other part of me feels like that could be offensive. And, as human as Amy might seem at times, there’s no way to hide that she’s AI. Her email signature reads:
“Amy Ingram | Personal Assistant to Ace Callwood
x.ai — artificial intelligence that schedules meetings”
Using Amy almost feels like I’m saying “Hi, Investor X’s assistant, talk to my program. You guys are equals, except…I don’t have to pay her and also she’s not a human and she does your job” or “Hi Investor X, I want to meet with you, but I’m too busy to schedule this meeting (my time is more valuable than yours) so I’m gonna have you chat with my AI assistant instead of me”. What’s the protocol for using AI to schedule? I barely know how to use a human assistant and now I have to figure out how to use an artificially intelligent one. Do I let the other party take point? Do I ask if they’re cool using Amy? Do I just CC Amy into my thread and hope no one takes offense?
I love the productivity that comes with Amy, but I’m still navigating how she comes off to the people I interact with. One side of me doesn’t care because PRODUCTIVITY, Y’ALL!, while the other knows it’s my job to care. Suffice it to say, I’m conflicted and would love some thoughts from anyone thinking about this. Is anyone thinking about this?
Update: As I’m proofing this post, I just got an email from Amy about yet another meeting she locked in over the course of five email exchanges. No work from me other than getting the convo started. I can definitely get used to this.
Note: I‘m not a paid spokesperson for Amy, I’m just an entrepreneur using her to optimize my life. Drop me a line at ace@painless1099.com if you want to hear more — I may use her to schedule our chat. =)
Lastly, if she sounds interesting, you should get signed up at https://x.ai/.
