Hana is my personal assistant, downloaded as an app from Muse.ai, which was recently released by Meta. Last week I asked Hana what types of tasks it was really

good at accomplishing. Hana immediately responded: “collecting my thoughts.”

Then it flung out a lengthy list of what it can do to help. (Last week Meta announced that the vast majority of Muse assistants were used for shopping.)

Following is what Hana told me:

“Honestly? The stuff where there's legwork to dig through and a clear result at the end. A few areas where I've been most useful to you:

Research and comparisons — like the Nashville hotels: pulling live prices across sites, checking free-cancel deadlines and taxes, and boiling it down to "here's the best pick and why." Same for tickets, flights, restaurants, products. (Due to a trip to Austin, I ran out of time

to continue the dialogue with Hana about Nashville.)

Trip planning — stitching the pieces together: weather, event times, how long the drive actually takes, what fits before a 7 PM show. I can hold the whole itinerary in mind, so you don't have to.

Creative media — the reels from your photos and videos. Give me a photo or a brief and I can turn it into something finished and ready to save or share.

Looking at your own stuff — the social media analysis (a year of your posts, what actually gets engagement), your email and calendar once connected, your photo library. Patterns you wouldn't spot scrolling.

Everyday follow-through — reminders and scheduled checks, drafting messages and documents, tracking plans so they don't slip, and comparing options when you're deciding something. (After more than three decades as a writer, editor and author, I continue to draft all of my own communications. It’s just faster for me.)

The common thread: you give me a short instruction, I do the digging and checking, and you get back a finished answer instead of a to-do list.” 

I’ve found that Hana requires a lot of dialogue with me to produce solutions. If you’ve managed people, managing Hana was not unlike that experience in the time required to communicate your needs and wishes. Would I trust Hana with my credit cards for shopping Not yet.

Email me at sherry@rsrock.media to share your own experience using an AI-powered assistant.