Stephen Covey, author of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," wrote: "The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities." Many of us are trying to squeeze everything into a hectic work schedule without due consideration for prioritization. If something unexpected turns up, like an emergency meeting, we can find our plans in disarray.
Wouldn’t it be amazing if you had some sort of personal assistant to help prioritize and juggle your schedule so that everything just worked? Even when there are last-minute changes?
Well, now you can have exactly that in the form of an AI calendar.
In this article, we’ll look at how an AI calendar assistant can help you manage and prioritize your schedule, and then we’ll investigate six superb examples for you to consider.
What is an AI calendar assistant?
The adoption of AI in business tools and workflow systems continues to increase year on year. A McKinsey survey found that in 2017, 20% of businesses had adopted AI in at least one area of their business, and in 2022, that figure was 50%. Business leaders are increasingly aware they need to adopt this technology if they’re to stay ahead of the game. 44% of leaders say AI increases productivity through automation, and 94% of leaders state that over the next five years, AI will be critical for the success of their business.
To maintain a competitive edge in this fast-moving environment, businesses must stay up to date. The adoption of AI is becoming not just useful but necessary. And fast and efficient scheduling, in the form of an AI calendar, is one important area of work in which artificial intelligence can be brought to very good use.
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Scheduling is easy with an AI calendar. It schedules meetings, manages tasks, and plans your day more quickly, more efficiently, and with fewer errors than any non-automated method. An AI calendar avoids scheduling conflicts, and if an urgent last-minute meeting crops up, it'll find a time slot and automatically do any necessary rescheduling. What’s more, it’ll update your workmate’s calendars at the same time. AI calendars consider your priorities and deadlines, too. Some AI calendar apps use machine learning algorithms to learn from your scheduling habits and preferences over time. In this wa,y they get better at making accurate predictions about your availability and scheduling preferences.
So it’s easy to see how an AI calendar has the potential to significantly increase productivity and streamline your workflow.
Smart calendars vs. AI calendars
There’s a good chance you’re already using a smart calendar like those from Google or Microsoft. And yes, smart calendars are great. They provide really useful features like calendar sharing, syncing, and integration with other apps.
But AI calendars take it a leap further. With the use of advanced algorithms, they automatically schedule and reschedule events based on context. Smart calendars, on the other hand, usually require manual event creation. And here’s the thing that'd make Stephen Covey really happy — AI calendars prioritize. First, they analyze deadlines, importance, dependencies, and user preferences. Then they intelligently determine the order of all the activities on your calendar so that the most important items are given priority.
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On top of that, some AI calendars can learn from your interactions and feedback to provide increasingly personalized scheduling. In other words, the more you use them, the better they get.
How can AI help with planning?
Like many smart calendars, an AI calendar can help with planning in all the following ways:
- Collaborate with other team members
- Save your important notes and documents
- Block time for deep work
- Manage your tasks
- Schedule meetings
- Send you reminders
- Track progress
The difference with an AI calendar, though, is that much of your scheduling can be automated. Let’s consider how AI can help with a specific example — last-minute meetings.
Meetings take up a significant percentage of many people’s working lives. In fact, surveys show that 37% of business employees spend between four and twelve hours each week in meetings. We all know that productive people tend to plan their day, but it seems that only 18% of us have a proper time management system.
Many of those meetings would benefit from some proper organization and planning. Smart calendars are reasonably good at that, but what happens when an unexpected meeting turns up and it isn’t one you can safely postpone? With a smart calendar, everyone will have to manually shuffle their existing timetable to accommodate the unexpected meeting. That’s likely to be considerably more time-consuming.
Now let’s compare that to how an AI calendar would handle your last-minute meetings. First, it’ll analyze your timetable, together with the timetables of team members who'll be participants in the meeting. It’ll consider the priorities of their various tasks and then will find suitable alternative time slots for the meeting. Then it'll automatically reshuffle everyone's schedule, still considering priorities and deadlines. Lastly, it’ll book the meeting and make sure everyone’s informed. It’s all done in double-quick time, despite the fact that your input is minimal.
AI to-do list
Managing AI to-do lists is another area in which AI’s ability to prioritize really shines. AI can analyze your tasks, prioritize them based on importance and deadlines, and suggest the best order of work. It’ll reshuffle your list whenever necessary and will always consider your deadlines and priorities.
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How to choose the best AI planner
If you’ve decided an AI planner is the right tool for you or your business, here are some of the questions to ask and the factors to consider in order to make the best choice:
Ease of use
Intuitive user interface: An intuitive interface makes the learning process faster and easier when adopting new software. And using it's just an altogether more pleasant experience.
Drag-and-drop functionality: This refers to the ability to move events or appointments by clicking on them, dragging them to a new time slot, and dropping them into the new location. It’s a nice feature that allows you to reschedule with a simple, intuitive action.
Accessibility across devices: This allows you to access your calendar anywhere, on any device, and accommodates the needs and preferences of all members of your team.
Integrations
Check that your proposed software integrates with the apps and services you already use, such as email clients and task management tools.
Cost
- Can your budget cover the cost of the software, both now and in the future?
- How does it compare to other software of the same price?
- Does it offer something extra that justifies a higher price?
- Is there a free plan that would meet your needs for now?
Security
It’s vital to make sure that your data and personal information will be adequately protected.
Features
Scheduling and Rescheduling: Assess the planner's capabilities for scheduling events, rescheduling conflicts, and suggesting alternative time slots.
Collaboration: Does it support sharing calendars, inviting others to events, and coordinating schedules?
Mobile Accessibility: Is there a mobile app that's compatible with your preferred device's operating system?
AI Capabilities: Can it automate tasks, provide intelligent suggestions, and automatically optimize your schedule?
Scalability
You don’t want to find that the capabilities of your software are outgrown as your business grows. Check the scalability of any proposed software and its ability to handle larger workloads and a larger user base.
6 of the best AI calendar apps
Now let's look at some examples of the best AI calendar assistants available, along with their features, key strengths, and their respective suitability for different users.
1. Motion
Motion isn’t just an AI calendar app. It’s also a task management tool, a project manager, and a meeting scheduling app that helps you manage your business and personal life in all sorts of ways. It has a beautiful user interface and is really straightforward to use. It's available for both iOS and Android devices.
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Features
- Automatic integration with Google and Outlook calendars
- Desktop and mobile app
- Now integrates with Zapier, which in turn allows you to integrate your calendar with thousands of the most popular apps
- Prioritizes tasks and schedules them, making sure you have enough time to meet your deadlines
- Builds a custom schedule to fit your work hours, making sure you don’t end up putting in too many extra hours
- Schedules meetings according to your calendars and preset preferences
- Syncs your schedule with that of your teammates
- Alerts you when you overcommit
- Automates 90% of project planning
- Has a high level of security
Key Strengths
- Advanced automated time management for tasks and projects
- Integration with Zapier allows for integration with thousands of other apps
Who is it best for?
Motion is best for individuals and small to medium-sized businesses such as design agencies, construction businesses, and real estate offices.
2. Mayday
Mayday is a simple but powerful calendar app that’s available for MacOS, iOS, and iPadOS. Built with SwiftUI, the app is still in public beta and is free for now.
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Features
- AI scheduled tasks
- Unites all your calendars in one place
- Time windows to help you block time on your calendar
- Integrates with Google Calendar and Zoom
- Non-critical events tagged as "FYI" have a minimal effect on your timeline
- Smart tags allow you to set preferences for different events
- Smart tag colors allow you to easily view event types over your week
- Calendar shield automatically blocks time if your calendar starts to get too full
- Uses machine learning algorithms for continuous improvement with use
Key Strengths
- It’s use of machine learning and advanced algorithms to intelligently schedule your time based on your priorities and preferences
- It’s free for now
Cons
- It’s still in development
- Not yet available for Android
- Limited integrations, but the company states that there are more coming soon
Who is it best for?
Mayday is best suited to individuals and small businesses and for Apple users only.
3. Clara
Clara is a bit different from other scheduling apps and AI calendar assistants in that it uses email to schedule your meetings. You add Clara as a CC in your initial email conversations with a client, then Clara takes over and converses with your client to set up the meeting.
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Features
- Schedules meetings via email
- Automatically sends follow-ups if the email recipient doesn’t respond
- Converses in natural-sounding language
- Can change its name to match your brand identity
- Automatically sends an email asking for feedback after meetings
- Time zone detection
- Integrates with Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Office, Greenhouse, Lever, HackerRank, and CoderPad
Key Strengths
- It’s a great choice if email is your preferred method of setting up meetings
Cons
- Limited features
- Limited integration with third-party applications
Who is it best for?
Clara is best for busy professionals and businesses who prefer to use email for scheduling meetings.
4. Kronologic
Kronologic is another app that uses email, but it's specifically focused on helping sales teams schedule calls with interested leads and increasing conversion rates.
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Features
- Arranges meetings with interested leads
- Sends email invites to leads
- Automatically schedules a time when both parties are likely to be available
- Uses natural language processing to detect if the email recipient wants to reschedule
- Reschedules appropriately
- Automatically reschedules no-show meetings
Key Strengths
- Maximizes the efficiency of a sales team
- Provides an immediate response to inquiries
Cons
- Limited features
Who is it best for?
Kronologic is best for reps and sales teams working in established businesses.
5. Sidekick
Sidekick is a versatile ai calendar app that offers several ways to schedule meetings. It has recently partnered with Sembly, which transcribes and takes notes from professional meetings. Sidekick’s website states that the partnership will take place in several forthcoming phases. Sidekick is available for both iOS and Android.
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Features
- Its focus is as an AI meeting scheduler
- Three ways to schedule meetings:
- Scheduling pages set up for teams or individuals
- Forward to schedule — forward an email to Sidekick, which will then schedule a meeting
- Sidekick scheduling — book a meeting instantly with other Sidekick users
- Appointment reminders
- Group scheduling
- Recurring appointments
- Integrates with video-conferencing tools like Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet
- Save your favorite physical meeting locations
Key Strengths
- Multiple ways to schedule meetings
- Affordable for anyone — free plan or $5 per month
Cons
- There are limited features at the moment, but its partnership with Sembly will add some useful functionalities
- The business plan is still in beta
Who is it best for?
Sidekick is best for individuals or small businesses looking for a simple scheduling solution.
6. FlowSavvy
FlowSavvy is an AI calendar assistant that takes to-do lists and schedules them into your weekly planner. It integrates with Google Calendar and is available for both iOS and Android devices.
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Features
- AI calendar with time blocking
- Automatically schedules tasks from your to-do list
- Uses AI to rebuild your schedule when you make changes
- Customizable auto-schedule settings
- Schedules repeating events and tasks
- Reminder notifications
- Syncs with Google Calendar
Key Strengths
- Simple and easy to use
- Free version and inexpensive to upgrade
Cons
- Limited features
- Limited integrations
Who is it best for?
FlowSavvy is best for individuals and small businesses who want a simple scheduling solution.
Are AI calendars really better?
We’ve seen that AI calendar assistants have real advantages over smart calendars, mainly in their ability to automate and prioritize. With an AI calendar, scheduling is much easier and faster, offering distinct advantages over any other form of scheduling. So using an AI calendar can save you considerable time, streamline your workflow, and increase the productivity of your team.
Motion is a great choice when it comes to AI calendars. Its numerous features and its integration with Zapier make it infinitely adaptable to your needs.
If you want to experience the power and flexibility of AI at its best, you can start straight away with our free 7-day trial.
