What are Personal Assistants and How Do They Help You?

Jill Vonier

Jill Vonier

6 min read

You've heard about them in the news, but what exactly are automated personal assistants and how can they help you?

Apple home device

We are busier today than ever before. Between full-time jobs, after school activities, keeping up with social media, attending appointments, and attempting to have a social life, we could all use a little help.

Today's technology turns toward automation to take care of simple tasks that require a lot of mental load. It isn't difficult to remember to buy laundry detergent, turn off the oven when it's done, or lock the front door at night. But throw all 3 into a mix of also having to purchase a birthday present for your kid's friend, baking treats for a bake sale, and running to get a missing ingredient for dinner, and suddenly even mundane tasks become impossible and never get done.

Automated personal assistants can't fold the laundry but they can take some of the most simple tasks off your plate that end up taking more time and energy than you realize. The results is you get to move more smoothly through your day and spend more time doing what you love.

Read on to find out what an automated personal assistant is, what it does, and how it can help you.

What is an Automated Personal Assistant?

An automated personal assistant is a mobile software program that can perform tasks by using artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

These programs are able to understand your requests and provide appropriate responses, without requiring any input from a human operator. It is able to do this by pulling from other contexts, such as prior conversations, knowledge bases, customer metadata, geolocation, and other databases and plug-ins.

Some popular AI assistants or digital assistants include Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri, and Google Assistant, which use voice commands and speech recognition to pull information, turn appliances on, send text messages, lock your doors, and much more, all in real-time.

How Do You Access Your Assistant?

AI assistants are usually based on the cloud so you can access them anywhere there is an internet connection.

To be integrated more into your daily routine, they can also be connected to your smart device such as a smartphone or tablet, or through a virtual assistant devices such as Amazon Echo or Google Home. They can also be accessed through SMS or a messaging app.

These programs are designed to be convenient and easy to use, so you can get the help you need without any hassle. Sometimes all it takes is a voice command to get your virtual personal assistant to understand a request and get it done.

What Specific Tasks Can An Assistant Do?

So, what can an automated personal assistant specifically do for you? These programs are designed to be versatile and adaptable, so they can help you with a wide range of tasks.

A few examples of what an automated personal assistant can do for you include:

  • Set reminders and alarms
  • Create and manage to-do lists
  • Send and receive messages
  • Make phone calls
  • Get directions and traffic updates
  • Check the weather
  • Play music and other audio content
  • Control smart home devices

Think back to a time before the internet and having to visit the library to research a topic or get a question answered.

Then the internet came and you could Google it. Now with automated personal assistants, you can just verbally ask a question and have it answered within seconds.

Don't wait for your town to pop up on the Weather Channel when you can just ask your assistant what the weather will be.

What Are The Other Benefits?

The benefits of using an automated personal assistant are numerous. For starters, they can save you time and effort by handling many of the tasks that would otherwise take up your valuable time. This means you can focus on the things that are most important to you, while your personal assistant takes care of the rest.

In addition, automated personal assistants can be incredibly convenient. You can access them from anywhere, at any time, using your phone or a smart device. This means you can get the help you need quickly and easily, without having to go out of your way.

Finally, automated personal assistants can be a lot of fun to use. Many of these programs have fun and engaging personalities, so you can enjoy using them and get to know them better over time.

Do You Need An Automated Personal Assistant?

You may be thinking you don't really need an assistant because these tasks are super easy to do so why even bother. But think about how you feel at the end of the day.

Do you feel mentally worn out, like your brain is completely fried? Do you feel frustrated by getting constantly interrupted throughout the day having to take care of mundane tasks?

Our brains take in more information than we realize. From staring at our phones to see what Suzie down the road had for dinner last night to making online grocery orders, our brains are overloaded by the end of the day and can't handle anything more than binge watching on Netflix.

These assistants are able to achieve small tasks to help you move through your day more smoothly. Instead of having to pull over to receive a text while driving, a personal assistant can read a text to you and listen to your verbal response. Instead of getting out a notepad to write down a reminder to make a doctor's appointment, your virtual assistant can take down a note and even schedule an appointment for you and add it to your calendar.

If you're ready for more energy, both mentally and physically, these automated personal assistants can take a load off you so you can spend quality more time doing the things you love.


Automated personal assistants, also known as AI assistants, are powerful and convenient tool that can help you with a wide range of tasks.

They can help you move throughout your day with less interruptions and less things you have to do. They can check the weather, schedule an appointment, send a text message, and even preheat your oven for you as you head back from picking up ingredients at the store. It really is like having a little helper take care of tasks.

The result is a more calm, productive you. Now you can focus on the things you need to, get more of the big things done so you can feel achieved by the end of the day, instead of mentally fried.

What is your least favorite task to do everyday?

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