I’ve always been bothered by mess. It interferes with my thinking. But today I have technology on my side. Let AI deal with it, while my mind maintains its resources for other projects. I am tired of household tasks chipping away at my attention and time.
I put the camera on and take a picture of my room.
The app asks me: What kind of a feeling would you like your room to have?I say: – Calm, relaxed focus.AI: – What kind of functionality would you like your room to have?
Ana: – Reading, thinking.
It “looks around” for a while, and then it tells me: you might want to repaint this room – they are too many colours in this room. We recommend the following colour schemes. Please choose one. It lets me choose various colour schemes. Shall I arrange for a painter for you? Daniel lives nearby and would love to paint your living room – it would take him 10 hours if you get all your furniture in the middle of the room yourself, or 2 days if he has to get the furniture done too. Shall I show you some of his previous work?
Yes. Daniel’s work looks really nice. I want to book him.
Ana: – Is he free this weekend? And could he do the 2 day option? I don’t want to move the furniture myself.AI: – Ok …. Let me show you how much this would cost.
Ana: – Ouch – ok, can we schedule Daniel for 2 months in the future, after I would have received my work bonus? What can I do for my room to look better now?
The app pauses, considers my emotional response and then says gently:
AI: – You have a lot of books Ana…Ana: – Don’t touch my books, bot! You should know better than this!
AI: – Yes yes mistress …. all I’m saying is – all your current shelves are occupied. And the new books that you are buying every week stay on the floor. Perhaps …. ummm (AI calculates delicacy level on tactical approach) those books on the very top of the bookshelves you are not reading anymore, or haven’t touched in fact in 578 days, and you could be ummmm….. moving them in the basement? Safely secured in boxes (it ads hurriedly)
Ana: – What would the purpose of that be bot?
AI: – Well …. I was thinking …. (AI hesitates – as I am still calling it with what he came to know is derogatory from my side – bot – and not with the respectable “AI” title it prefers for itself, it has reasons to believe that it is still dancing on dangerous territory)
Ana: – Spill it out!
AI: – Well, the purpose of that would be – you could then free those upper shelves to move on them some of the things that you haven’t touched in the middle shelves for 145 days….
Ana: – Your point being?
AI: – Then move the books which you have recently read from eye level in the middle, and move your new acquisitions to prime space, so you can see what you want to read each evening, rather than check your piles of books on the floor and only be able to see the topmost ones….
Ana: – Hmmm…. ok AI, I guess that’s not such a bad plan, let’s proceed. … As long as…. you promise there will be more room for my new books, right? (this AI is smart. it knows me, and it knows what carrots to dangle in front of me).
We finish this project in about an hour.
I am sufficiently satisfied with the results to dare to taunt my AI.
Ana: – Anything else that you see can be improved in …. let’s say under half an hour?
-Yes! the AI says a bit too happily. Next to your window lots of things have gathered. Perhaps we can keep just the 3 living plants, and nothing else?
I grumble, and proceed to gather in a bag 4 l’occitane mini bottles, 3 coloured crayons from my under 2 year old, 7 toy pieces from various collections, 3 decor items I don’t like anymore and another 12 nondescript bits – ranging from bits of plasticine forgotten by my toddler to crafting gear forgotten by my partner (of course, nothing of mine 
– it’s my story so I get to tell it how I want to).
– Looking better now – says the AI encouragingly. Does it evoke calm to you?
I look at my work.
Ana: – Yeah. Maybe, I breathe heavily. Perhaps on a day when I haven’t just cleaned it up and I would meet it without any effort it would evoke calm to me.
AI: – Yes! And that’s the day we are working for! There will be days when you won’t be doing any effort or updating, but just improving the fruits of my labour.
Ana: – Anything else, AI?
The AI pauses. Is it computing which changes would make the biggest difference? Or which changes am I most likely to approve of and go through? I guess the computing of how to nudge my behaviour in a positive direction and negotiate with me would take much more computational power. But then again, they have been known to pause just to add emphasis, or make their next suggestions more anticipated.
AI: – I suggest an organizational system for your daughter’s toys!
I cringe again. But I did set this AI to challenge me, as to increase my propensity to deal with our clutter and learn how to organize systems for our now bigger family.
Ana: – How would I begin?
AI: – Have you considered recycling all the age surpassed toys?
Ana: – You mean throwing the baby stuff out?
I cringe at the word throw. AI hears it in my voice.
AI: – I would suggest putting the baby stuff in the basement. We can deal with the complexity of recycling another day.
Ah. It is sure to convince me another day when I have forgotten what I have in the basement to just call the recycling brigade and just “clear out the basement” in one fell swoop. Without me looking again at what I have there. After all, it is known to optimize for whatever it would take its user the least amount of cognitive effort. Tricking people into behaving well is not beyond it either. I feel like a child for a second, then begin. I gather 2 bags of “age-surpassed” toys.
AI: – You’re doing great! How about we now organizing the age appropriate toys in small trays in drawers? They will then be at your daughter’s height and eye level so that she can rummage in the drawers happily. We can also make sure her activities are optimized based on the values you set: curiosity and focus. She can discover the toys and rediscover them, and focus on them one by one, so she can truly enjoy them.
The process ends with the AI giving me the info that they are exactly 3 slots left in the shelves and the treat that I can now buy 1 or 2 new toys. The AI advises me to leave at least one slot open. It’s sure to come in handy, in fact run short when grandma and grandpa come to visit next week (oh, did I say I was just cleaning with no purpose?)
The AI then suggest getting rid of a couple of furniture items which are small to medium size and we are not really using. It makes a really persuasive argument showing me how their functionality can be taken over by smart use of other items. It shows me how the space in the room will improve with 10-20cm around each of our main walking paths – enhancing my feelings of spaciousness.
Furniture items are normally hard to let go of by my partner. Luckily, he is not here today . By the time he comes back from work the furniture items are piled next to the door and he can already observe all the spaciousness created. So he opts for “ok, I guess I can go put them in the basement” – (yes, I have learned from my AI).
I feel excited by all the changes, and the atmosphere in our city apartment is indeed now “calmer”. I think in a couple of weeks I will dare to talk about getting rid of some old decorations and mementos with my AI (letting go of such things has always been hard for me). Who knows? Perhaps I will even open the doors of my wardrobe to it.
I still wish they had invented an actual domestic robot capable of moving objects to do all of this work. That’s probably in the future. Yet this AI is good enough – it helps me organize my thoughts and strategies on what would make the biggest impact to reach my decluttering and house atmosphere goals within the little time I have.
Author: Dr. Dr. Ana-Maria Olteteanu
The paragraphs above are a thought experiment. No AI product that does this, in this way, exists so far. Would you buy it if it existed? Would you find it friendly or annoying?
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