Ask HN: AI Calendar Tools – Opinions?

[Running4M]

Hey everyone,

This is my first time posting on Hacker News! I’ve heard it’s a great place to get people’s opinions, so I thought I’d give it a shot.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how I plan my tasks. I like organizing my week with things like work-related stuff or hobbies (e.g., writing an essay or doing an analysis). I usually write everything down in my calendar—it helps me stay on track and (mostly) avoid procrastinating. But honestly, I still struggle with it sometimes.

To make things easier, I often use ChatGPT as a starting point. I don’t copy it word for word, but it’s great for sparking ideas or finding solutions I wouldn’t have thought of.

Then I had this thought: what if ChatGPT could connect to a calendar? Like, it could read your tasks and prep ideas or drafts ahead of time. That way, when you sit down to work, you already have a starting point—no need to waste time figuring out what to do.

Do you ever deal with similar struggles when planning or procrastinating? I’m thinking of building something like this and would love to hear your thoughts or any ideas you might have.

Thanks for reading!

[mtmail]

I worked on a todo-list app project (to sell ads, didn't work) and saw how the average user manages their tasks. I'd say "flowers mom", "new tyres", "trash day" or sometimes nothing but a name or phone number. An AI would have to make a lot of guesses. I'm doubtful prioritizing tasks against each other works without a huge amount of context. An AI could still help by asking questions back to the user "Is A more important than B?", "What's the timeline on C?", "Can you break down D into actionable sub-tasks?". The user would spend more time in the tool, not less.

[Running4M → mtmail]

Hello mtmail,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

I completely agree that for simple tasks like a grocery list or reminders (e.g., "buy flowers" or "trash day"), just a word or two is enough to jog the user's memory. Those kinds of tasks don’t really need much detail or input from an AI.

What I had in mind for integrating ChatGPT, though, was more for work-related or hobby-focused tasks—things that require a bit of planning or creativity. As you mentioned, for ChatGPT to be effective at breaking down or prioritizing a task (or at least offering tips or starting points), the user would need to provide more context or detail.

To make this easier, I imagine the user writing a brief description of the task with the help of prebuilt prompts. These prompts would guide them in crafting the description so that ChatGPT can clearly understand what the task is about. For example, prompts could ask, “What’s the goal of this task?” or “What’s your timeline?” This way, the process of describing tasks wouldn’t feel overwhelming or time-consuming for the user.

I get that this might require more effort than just jotting down "do laundry" or "call mom," but my focus is on helping with more complex tasks—like writing, research, or work deadlines—where this extra input could genuinely help users stay ahead of their schedule and avoid procrastination.

What do you think about that approach?

[rcavezza]

I would give Motion a try. I used them for their trial and really enjoyed it. I'm considering paying for the product now. It's at usemotion.com

I'm sure it's flexible and if I put time into it, I could solve all my issues, but the thing I didn't particularly love was that you needed to remember to mark a task as done when you completed it. If you didn't it would keep showing up at other open calendar times. Other than that, it did a great job and making sure I prioritized my most important tasks.

[brudgers]

What are your reasons for caring what other people think?

I ask because those reasons will be most of what determines the success of whatever you build.

Because for potential users there is a world of difference between an ChatGPT connected todo app and an ad supported ChatGPT connected todo app.

Good luck.

[Running4M → brudgers]

Hello brudgers, Thank you for your words of encouragement!

The reason I’m asking for other people’s advice is that I’ve worked on projects in the past that didn’t succeed. Looking back, I realized that one of the main issues was that I often got caught up in my own excitement and didn’t take the time to ask others saw the same value in the idea as I did.

That’s why this time I've decided I’m taking a different approach. Before diving in, I want to connect with others, hear their thoughts, and understand their perspectives. I feel like this kind of feedback can really shape the direction of the idea.