I've wanted a personal assistant for quite some time, now. Someone who can keep my schedule, help with travel, and generally have my back in terms of logistics. Experience and intelligence is a must, of course. I'm pretty good with travel, and an assistant who can't do a better job than I can isn't really a value-add in terms of paying for service. Someone with enough insight into my personality and work schedule is also a necessity, as I'd expect, in a reasonable amount of time, they could know my workload and limits and help schedule commitments. Someone who could say, "I'm sorry, but I know that this won't fit in Chris's workload until at least October" would be incredible.

Someone with these skills would surely be very expensive to hire. Part-time is likely not an option for such high-end service, so I'd be looking at a full-time salary plus benefits. Let's face it, I'm pretty good at what I do, but I only make the medium bucks. Until my startup is bought out for some obscene valuation, such an assistant just isn't in the works for me.

For now.

It occurs to me that as soon as we cross the real artificial intelligence barrier, such an assistant will be a simple install and configuration. We're not there yet, but it's a clear milestone, and I can't help but think that we could be five or ten years away. Sure, I'm optimistic. I believe if I can live to 65, I can live forever, as I think medical science is very close to stopping the aging process (and, I hope, reversing it so I can live forever in the body of a 30 year-old). I think AI is that close as well, especially looking at the advancements in quantum computing over the past year.

I hold out hope that one day I'll have my personal assistant. I won't name him HAL, however - that's cliche.