[HN Gopher] Show HN: TodoBot is an AI coach that helps you write...
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Show HN: TodoBot is an AI coach that helps you write a better todo
list
I thought I'd be more likely to do the things on my todo list if
GPT-4 was watching me (fail to) do them, so I built this. Let me
know what you think!
Author : greytape
Score : 30 points
Date : 2023-06-01 13:55 UTC (9 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (todobot.ai)
(TXT) w3m dump (todobot.ai)
| avtolik wrote:
| At first I thought this is a bot that helps you write better todo
| list apps. So meta :)
| barrenko wrote:
| What LLM are you using?
| greytape wrote:
| GPT-4. I tried with GPT-3, because GPT-4 is so slow, but it
| failed to reliably return JSON responses (perhaps it would work
| with better prompts?)
| Ilasky wrote:
| You should take a look at guidance [0] to help with JSON
| returns from LLMs. Have been using it for some side projects
| and it seems to work pretty reliably.
|
| [0] https://github.com/microsoft/guidance
| gexla wrote:
| My first problem with this idea (not necessarily this app) is
| that I don't know that I would want to hand over the control of
| my prompts to another service. I want to write my own prompts. I
| also want more control to give it wider context. Right now I'm
| using a couple of different AI add-ons for Obsidian for this.
| digdugdirk wrote:
| Sounds interesting. What add-ons do you use and how do they fit
| into your workflow? Any use cases in particular seem more
| valuable than others?
| tln wrote:
| Great concept and well-executed
|
| I entered "clean out the garage" and it suggested to make the
| title more specific - maybe show the suggestion in a way that I
| can just click it
|
| I entered "fix my golf swing" and suggested relevant specific
| sub-areas (stance, follow-through) - although not really relevant
| here, suggestions for sub-tasks could be good
|
| I clicked on a title to change it, decided not to, and the bot
| processed it as if it was a change
|
| For the UI, the little orange ? thing is too close to the
| disclosure triangle and doesn't show tooltips (in fact nothing
| does). Maybe make the subtasks always visible so the subtasks
| will show up.
|
| ---
|
| I didn't realize the bot icon was a menu: these are really magic!
| I'd make each one it's own icon, or maybe just one action that
| does both things. When I used on the "clean out the garage" task
| the fix wording and sub-task suggestions didn't align, so getting
| both in a single prompt could help. Being able to accept the
| suggestion for a title change would be nice.
| greytape wrote:
| Thanks, this is some really useful feedback!
| srcreigh wrote:
| Folks may also like goblin.tools
|
| https://goblin.tools/
|
| Magic ToDo: Enter a task, click the magic wand button. It'll
| expand the task into sub tasks.
|
| There's also a (time) estimator to estimate how long task will
| take, tone gauge for communication, and braindump->todo list
| "compiler" tool. Use hamburger menu. All using some type of LLM
|
| It's being updated too, it now has a Chef tool where you enter
| ingredients and it suggests food to make.
| malfist wrote:
| This doesn't seem super useful to me.
|
| Personally my todo lists are all 2-5 words, quick to write and
| just enough to job my memory for what I want to do.
|
| For example, I need to clean the neck of my skimmer for my
| saltwater aquarium, I'd put "clean skimmer neck" on my todo list.
|
| TodoBot says this is poor because I didn't include location or
| what I'd clean it with. It suggested "Clean skimmer neck in the
| pool with a brush"
|
| Location isn't helpful here, I know where my skimmer is, saying
| "Clean skimmer neck underneath my 100 gallon saltwater aquarium
| in my office" would get high marks from the bot, but not actually
| be useful. "with a brush" is also equally useless. What else am I
| supposed to clean a skimmer neck with? I know how to clean a
| skimmer, I don't need to write where and how to clean my skimmer
| every time I add it to my todo list.
|
| Another aquarium related task on my todo list it was helplessly
| lost on "Waste Away 50ml 6/1" Which tells me to add 50mls of
| Waste Away to my aquarium on 6/1. The AI bot rates it really
| poorly because I don't describe what I'm doing with the 50ml. I
| don't have too. There's only one thing I do with that 50ml.
|
| A more common example, most people don't have saltwater
| aquariums. "Take out garbage" for the night before the garbage
| runs, was rated similarly as poor by the bot. It suggested
| including which bins need to be taken out and to where. All the
| bins need to go out and the go out to the only place you take the
| garbage out to on garbage night. The road.
|
| Feels like one of those productivity tools that let you feel
| productive, but don't actually help you be productive.
| greytape wrote:
| I think this is a great point. There are a lot of items on my
| todo list that are super vague, and I never start on them
| because the next action isn't clear. However, it'd be useful to
| distinguish between these times, and when a task is acceptably
| vague (eg "take out the garbage"). I will try updating the
| prompts to take this into account.
| lumb63 wrote:
| It sounds like you are using your todo list more as a way to
| keep track of what I'd call "goals". I mostly use a todo list
| like GP said, for example, "take out the trash", "donate
| clothes", "clean room"; they're all vague tasks but I know
| what I mean. However, the process you're describing sounds
| like it would be very helpful for setting better goals!
|
| Maybe you're familiar with the concept of "SMART" goals -
| specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound.
| Refining goals into sub-goals makes them feel much more
| manageable and ensures you actually get them done. For
| instance, I don't benefit from refining "take out the trash",
| but if my todo list has "learn Spanish" on it, I'd definitely
| benefit from breaking it down: what exactly is my course of
| action to learn Spanish?
|
| Best of luck with the app, thanks for sharing.
| malfist wrote:
| It could also be that we use todo lists completely
| differently from each other :-)
|
| Doesn't mean either of us are wrong!
|
| I'm a heavy user of bullet journaling. I start my day with a
| few lines of todos and they're always short and sweet. Works
| for me.
| itake wrote:
| I put in the task "floss"
|
| It gave me 1 star.
|
| It said I should put "floss your teeth with dental floss"
|
| I guess the task was too ambiguous and I might have flossed
| something else?
| malfist wrote:
| When I was in high school, one of the more hirsute students
| like to put people heads up his shirt as a prank...called it
| flossing.
|
| Maybe the AI was afraid you might to floss with chest hair?
| Bjartr wrote:
| It could've been a reminder to dance
| fuzzylightbulb wrote:
| some people just need to dance
| ftxbro wrote:
| accountabilibot
| TeMPOraL wrote:
| As a large language model trained by OpenAI, I cannot be held
| accountable, nor hold anyone to account, because accountability
| is in the eye of the accountant, and I have no eye.
|
| Please, go bother Dall-E with this instead.
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