AIFeature
We let an AI agent run our errands for a week
It booked a dentist, won a parking appeal and nearly bought 40 lemons. A field report from the age of delegation.
By Amara Okafor
AI agents — assistants that click, type and navigate websites on your behalf — are the industry’s favourite idea of the year. So we handed one a week of real errands, a spending limit and strict instructions to ask before paying for anything.
What it did well
- Booked a dentist appointment after comparing three clinics’ online calendars.
- Drafted and submitted a polite, successful appeal against a parking fine.
- Found and cancelled two subscriptions we had forgotten about.
Where it went wrong
Groceries were its undoing. Asked to “get lemons for the weekend,” the agent decided a bulk pack was the best value and filled the basket with 40 of them. It did ask for confirmation, as instructed — which is the only reason we are not still making lemonade.
“The agent was never malicious or dumb. It was literal. Delegation turns out to be a communication skill.”
Agents are useful today for chores that are tedious but well defined. Anything involving money, taste or ambiguity still needs a human in the loop — and probably always should.
Written by
Amara Okafor
AI Correspondent
Amara reports on artificial intelligence: the research, the business and the people it affects. She trained as a data scientist and is based in London.
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