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Hey there, {{first_name | friend}},
Steamers make me happy.
I just got back from 3 nights in Massachusetts with my middle daughter and my sister to visit our dear friends who have relocated there. On the trip, I covered all the bases: steamers, lobster roll, chowda, and fried clams. My daughter stuck with what works, and what works for her is hot dogs.
I’ve been using chatbots to help with travel since 2023, but this was my first trip truly handing tasks off to agents, which gives “travel agent” a whole new meaning. The big difference from a regular chatbot? It understood my goals and acted proactively to help me on the trip. Here are a few examples:
Wrote and sent my husband a handoff doc built from our calendar, my email, and the week’s meal plan. It added my flight numbers and hotel on its own, which my husband loved, since he usually doesn’t have either…
Monitored our travel delays (there were plenty) and dug up the causes
Suggested a new dinner spot (Shake Shack, because hot dogs) when a delay derailed our first plan
Researched and bought our tickets for the New England Aquarium
Created a visual scavenger hunt for my daughter on our longest walk (we spotted the giant Hood milk bottle, the flag at Rowes Wharf, and the harbor seals outside the aquarium)
Proactively checked restaurant menus for my food allergies before we sat down
The only times it fell short were when I wanted it to communicate on my behalf. It is currently blocked from sending work emails from me and cannot make calls for me (but I cannot wait for that feature, truly).
Experiencing a real New England fall has me excited about the seasonal transition at home, and my experience with my agent has me asking a better question:
“What can I hand off so I can spend more time enjoying my favorite season with my family?”
Use the prompts below to plan your fall.
Thank you, Austin moms
AI for Moms at Manychat in Austin, October 7.
Last Wednesday, a dozen moms joined me at Manychat’s Austin office for AI for Moms: Less Mental Load, More Margaritas. We talked about raising kids in the AI era, how we can create a virtuous cycle by using AI to reduce our mental load and increase our AI literacy at the same time, and how agents fit into our lives. My favorite part of the night was hearing how different moms are using different tools to make their lives easier. We covered Claude, Dots, Muse, Instinct, and Babs.
Big thanks again to Manychat for hosting us in their beautiful office. If you’ve spent two minutes on social media lately, you’ve seen something like “Comment CHOCOLATE to get my grandmother’s famous cookie recipe!” That’s Manychat, an automation platform helping millions of users across the world build successful businesses. Their no-code platform helps turn these comments into business growth. I use Manychat so I can connect with parents and caregivers while spending less time on my devices, because the automations run without me.
Where should we go next? If you’d like to gather with a dozen moms to talk about using AI to lighten the mental load in your city, give me a shout!
Watch with me: No Country for Mothers
All moms and allies, join me virtually on Monday, November 9, at 7:00PM CT for a free online screening of the documentary No Country for Mothers, part of the American Motherhood Tour created by Moms First. RSVP here.
Prompts to plan a fall you’ll enjoy
These prompts were written to build on each other in the same thread with your preferred chatbot or AI agent.
Prompt 1: Decide on your fall “must-do” list
Act as my family’s fall planning partner. Ask me questions, one at a time, about our must-do traditions, how we’ll handle the fall holidays, and our budget for fall activities, if we have one. If you can see my calendar, review what’s already scheduled for fall. If you can’t, ask me to paste in our key fall dates. Format the output as a 1-page “family fall brief” with our must-do list that I can use to plan the season.
Mom tip: This works in any regular chatbot. If you’re ready to try an agent, use an agent like your dot from OpenAI or Gemini Spark. I tried it out in Spark with good results.
Prompt 2: Create a plan to make your musts happen
Act as my family project manager. Using our fall brief, work backward from each must-do and ask me any questions you need about timing, costs, and who’s involved. Format the output as a checklist with 3 sections: what I’ll do, what you can handle for me, and what still needs an owner. End with a short list of anything that needs more input from me.
Prompt 3: Delegate and schedule tasks where you can
Act as my agent. Take on the tasks you marked as yours in our checklist. Before you buy, book, or send anything, show me what you plan to do and wait for my OK. If you can’t take action in this tool, draft everything for me instead: emails, texts, and calendar entries I can copy. Format the output as 3 lists: done, waiting on my OK, and drafted for me to send.
Mom tip: Using an AI tool as your agent can give you the most time back, but also requires supervision. Be sure to check results for accuracy and monitor it closely.
What’s on your must-do fall list?
Mine are the fall carnival at my kids’ school, a family costume for trick-or-treating, and a leaf peeping trip to the best (only?) place to see fall leaves in Texas, the Lost Maples State Natural Area. Hit reply and tell me yours. I read every note!
Until next time,
P.S. I dictated this edition to my dot from OpenAI then edited it myself in beehiiv, my newsletter tool. How did we do?
I’m Sarah, mom of 3 girls, MBA, and AI strategist. I created AI-Empowered MomTM to share practical, responsible ways AI can help lighten the mental load of parenthood. I’m so glad you’re here.
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