Work with Otto

Your conversations with Otto are where you give it work and receive results. Once Otto has the right connections and permissions, it can do more than answer questions: it can work with the apps, files, and computer that belong to your Otto.

Give Otto a real task

Try a task that has a useful answer or result today. For example:

Summarize the important emails I received this morning and tell me what needs a response.

Look at my calendar this week, find conflicts, and suggest a better plan.

Move my 3:00 meeting tomorrow to the first available time on Thursday.

Otto will ask for permission before it changes something, such as moving a calendar event or sending a message. You can stay in the conversation while it works, then approve the action when it needs your decision.

When Otto asks for approval

An approval request explains the action Otto wants to take before it happens. Read the request and choose whether to approve it or deny it. If you approve, Otto continues the task. If you deny it, explain what should change and Otto can take a different path.

When you trust a specific, repeatable action, choose Always allow in the request. Otto can perform that action in future work without asking every time. Use this for an action you understand and expect, not just to get through a prompt faster.

If you are away, a notification can bring you back when Otto needs a decision. Until you respond, Otto waits rather than taking the action on its own.

What Otto can use while it works

For a task, Otto can use the connected apps and permissions you have given it. It can also use its own workspace on the device: its browser, files, memory, and command shell. That means it can research something on the web, read or write working notes, organize files, and use the tools needed to complete a request—not just produce a text reply.

Watch the work unfold

Many tasks take a minute or two. Otto may navigate an app, read information, write notes, create a file, or ask for a decision before it can finish.

The activity line in chat shows the work as it happens. Tap it to drill into the run and see more detail, including the tools Otto used and its visible progress. When Otto is done, it sends a final response back into the conversation.

Send and receive files

Use the attachment control in chat to send Otto a file. You can ask it to read, summarize, compare, transform, or use that file in a task.

Otto can also create files in its workspace and send them back to you. Ask for a spreadsheet, brief, draft, code file, or other deliverable, then download it from the conversation when it arrives.

Direct work and ongoing work

You can give Otto this kind of task in its main conversation or in a focused Chat from the sidebar. A focused Chat is useful when you want a project or question to remain separate from Otto's main, ongoing thread.

Direct tasks can also take time: Otto may continue working and return with a result later. Once you have run the same task enough times to trust it, you can turn it into an ongoing responsibility or a scheduled automation.

Next

Learn how Otto remembers, or continue with one-off tasks, responsibilities, and automations.