I've been spent the best part of the last couple of weeks building (and rebuilding) a personal operating system, and personal assistant with AI.
Problem
For a long time I've stumbled along using ChatGPT alongside everything else I've always used. I have the ChatGPT app, but then I also have a tool for task/project management, another tool for note taking/knowledge management, my emails, my calendar, various messaging apps, etc.
I like to work with "best of breed" tools that match my workflow and that I like to use. I'm not fully in the Google ecosystem, not at all in the Microsoft ecosystem, and even if Apple's AI was any good I'm not fully in that ecosystem for everything either. So my tools and workflows are fragmented across various apps and platforms by design.
Solution
Enter Openclaw. My AI personal assistant runs in the cloud on a virtual machine (which I also use for a few other things including a vibe-coded AI powered workout app I made).
I talk to it via WhatsApp and sometimes via the terminal on my MacBook. It has almost as much functionality as ChatGPT, and I'm slowly working to get it up to parity (images, voice, web app navigation, etc). I use it the way I used ChatGPT (do I boil the water before I put the pasta in, my chest hurts am I having a heart attack, etc).
But here's where it really started to feel awesome. I've long liked notes and tasks being in the same place, and I love the daily notes page workflow, so I moved onto Obsidian on my MacBook from Apple Notes and Reminders. The Obsidian files are synced to the virtual machine via Github, where my AI can read and edit them itself. Where I can ask it to dump summaries of my long winding conversations. ChatGPT had memories of what I asked/talked about, Openclaw has memories about everything I'm doing and thinking about, and it can be proactive with it, nudge me about things, challenge me. I wanted to have a conversation with it about my finances and it started asking me about balances and budgets and income. I went to open my finance app to answer it, but I had a brainwave and 5 minutes later my AI had built an integration and had all the information it needed to talk to me about it.
I'm learning, exploring, experimenting, building things, breaking things, breaking things so badly I have to rebuild things, and it's really fun. I'm moving at the speed of new ideas. Some days I feel like Tony Stark building ironman suits with Jarvis. This shit is so cool. It's also really scary. Fingers crossed this playing around has some bit of value when it comes time to find a job in product management in an industry that seems to be travelling at light speed these days. Until then you'll probably find me furiously typing away on my laptop tweaking the system that runs my life now.
Problem
For a long time I've stumbled along using ChatGPT alongside everything else I've always used. I have the ChatGPT app, but then I also have a tool for task/project management, another tool for note taking/knowledge management, my emails, my calendar, various messaging apps, etc.
I like to work with "best of breed" tools that match my workflow and that I like to use. I'm not fully in the Google ecosystem, not at all in the Microsoft ecosystem, and even if Apple's AI was any good I'm not fully in that ecosystem for everything either. So my tools and workflows are fragmented across various apps and platforms by design.
Solution
Enter Openclaw. My AI personal assistant runs in the cloud on a virtual machine (which I also use for a few other things including a vibe-coded AI powered workout app I made).
I talk to it via WhatsApp and sometimes via the terminal on my MacBook. It has almost as much functionality as ChatGPT, and I'm slowly working to get it up to parity (images, voice, web app navigation, etc). I use it the way I used ChatGPT (do I boil the water before I put the pasta in, my chest hurts am I having a heart attack, etc).
But here's where it really started to feel awesome. I've long liked notes and tasks being in the same place, and I love the daily notes page workflow, so I moved onto Obsidian on my MacBook from Apple Notes and Reminders. The Obsidian files are synced to the virtual machine via Github, where my AI can read and edit them itself. Where I can ask it to dump summaries of my long winding conversations. ChatGPT had memories of what I asked/talked about, Openclaw has memories about everything I'm doing and thinking about, and it can be proactive with it, nudge me about things, challenge me. I wanted to have a conversation with it about my finances and it started asking me about balances and budgets and income. I went to open my finance app to answer it, but I had a brainwave and 5 minutes later my AI had built an integration and had all the information it needed to talk to me about it.
I'm learning, exploring, experimenting, building things, breaking things, breaking things so badly I have to rebuild things, and it's really fun. I'm moving at the speed of new ideas. Some days I feel like Tony Stark building ironman suits with Jarvis. This shit is so cool. It's also really scary. Fingers crossed this playing around has some bit of value when it comes time to find a job in product management in an industry that seems to be travelling at light speed these days. Until then you'll probably find me furiously typing away on my laptop tweaking the system that runs my life now.