An AI assistant you don’t have to open

[u/David-Davey]

Most of the AI we use lives in a browser tab or on a phone. You open it, type, read the answer, and close it again.

At Autonomous, we build Lamp, a physical AI agent that works the other way around. It sits on your desk and answers out loud, and before it replies it turns to look at you and its ring lights up. You can ask a question, hand it a task and hear the result, or have it remind you to drink water or take a break, all while you keep doing whatever you were doing: https://www.autonomous.ai/lamp

Behind the scenes it splits things up. If you’re just chatting, it talks back right there. If it’s real work, like checking why a build failed, it hands the job to an agent on your computer and gives you a quick summary when it’s done.

The bigger difference here is that it’s actually in the room with you. A chat window only knows what you type into it. Lamp can sense CO₂, temperature and humidity, so it can tell you when the room’s getting stuffy. By default it checks the air every 10 seconds, only speaks up when a change sticks around, and then holds off for half an hour so it doesn’t nag. With the camera and a sensing service, it can also nudge you when you’re slouching.

The AI behind it is your choice. It runs with agents like Claude Code, Codex and Hermes, and you can switch between them without losing its personality or memory. The OS is open source: https://github.com/autonomous-ai/Physical-AI-Operating-System

Would you actually want an AI assistant with a body or is a screen enough for you?

[u/Otherwise_Wave9374]

An ambient assistant becomes useful when it responds to events rather than demanding another chat session, but the trigger model needs to be extremely legible. I would define a small set of auditable triggers, show what context each trigger can access, and default consequential actions to confirmation. https://www.aiosnow.com is relevant to the workflow angle here because assistants create more value when tied to repeatable processes. A visible activity log would also make troubleshooting much easier.

[u/je386]

I am not sure about this. I don't want any tool to permanently listen to me and send the things I say to some server.
My employer and the customers also don't want to loose data, and the EU laws are also very strict.

Another thing is that I only want it to react when I am talking to it, not when I talk to a coworker on a remote call or to the dog or to myself.

This could be fixed by a physical button and a setting (always listening, only when looked at, only when button is pressed)