A couple of years ago I fell in love with a tool called x.ai, which uses artificial intelligence to act as a scheduling assistant. If you want to find a time to meet with someone, you just copy a “person” named Amy (or Andrew), and the artificial intelligence tool goes back and forth with your colleague or colleagues to find a time to meet.
I love x.ai, but for many years, the pricing was too rich for my blood. They started out at about $40 a month, then went to $17 a month. But last week they lowered their prices and added a whole bunch of new features. Now you can use the service for $8 a month, and you will also get a scheduling page so people can pick their own times, plus a whole bunch of other features. This is the affordable level that makes sense for individuals who just need a helping hand to make their time more efficient. I’m sold on that price point… we’re getting this!
Here’s a sample of the work x.ai does for you:
Note: the only email I saw in this whole string was the first one I sent to Roxanne with a copy to Amy.
When I first tried x.ai out, I invited Roxanne to a meeting and copied Amy with a couple of time frames.
9 minutes later: Amy writes to Roxanne with options.
Roxanne said those times didn’t work. Amy proposes new times 12 minutes later.
Roxanne chooses a time, and Amy schedules the meeting… elapsed time from my initial email is just over an hour.
Two weeks later: Amy reminds Roxanne about the meeting.
Roxanne throws Amy a curve ball.
Amy doesn’t miss a beat. Three minutes after Roxanne’s note, Amy cancels the first event and reschedules according to Roxanne’s new availability.
