Scheduled tasks
Also called scheduled actions, scheduled task
Asking an AI to do something later or on repeat, such as a morning news round-up or a weekly reminder, and send you the result.
Most AI use is you asking and it answering. A scheduled task flips that: you set it up once, and the AI does the work at a time you choose, then tells you. It might be a daily summary of news on one topic, a weekly meal plan, a reminder or a check on whether a price has dropped.
It's a small first step towards AI that works without you watching, and it's a good way to learn how far you can trust it. A task runs unsupervised, so a wrong search or a misread page goes straight into your inbox looking just as confident as a right one.
Keep tasks specific, say which sources to use, and ask for links so you can check.
For example
"Every Friday at 5, list the free events in my town this weekend" lands as a notification each week without you asking again.
Put it to use
Where you'll meet scheduled tasks in ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude, how to use it there, and the mix-up most people make.
Daily Bytes Plus is in the Android app.