Some fear the AI revolution, others enlist it: meet the people who built themselves an agent

Rotem's part of the article, retold in our words.

A designer who pushes back

His work is digital balance: helping people use technology without handing it their friends, their family or parts of themselves. He came to it from UX design, where the job is to make screens easy and inviting. He saw where that ease leads, to fear of missing out and endless scrolling, and went into psychology to build a counterweight.

A system that knows when to stop

Over a few late nights, he built an AI system that keeps his tasks tied to where he wants his life to go. An agent linked to his calendar does the reminding.

• With his kids:If he starts working, it tells him this is not the time.
• After 11 at night:It sends him to bed, and reminds him what he does for a living.
• Receipts:It scans his email for them and nudges him to declare them.
• Income:From his products, planned hours and rates, it estimates what each project will bring in.

“Healthy technology is technology we shape to fit who we want to be.”

The risk he keeps in view

The agent is more available than any person, and it knows his weak spots. He keeps the other side in view too: leaning on it could leave us less creative and less critical, until we lose control.

Where it started

With a phone call. A friend who knows numbers was challenging him hard on his business, so Rotem stopped him and hit record. He gave the recording to his main agent and broke it down into small tasks.