What happens when I get the assistant to reschedule my day

When you ask an assistant to “clear your day,” just as a human assistant would need to understand what that means, an AI assistant does too. Language can be ambiguous—for example, “a man shot an elephant in pyjamas”: who is wearing the pyjamas? Does “shot” mean a gun or a camera? While your AI assistant is capable, vague requests can still be misinterpreted.

Today, calendars are used for more than just appointments. They often include to-dos, reminders, and entries across multiple calendars. For example, when you use Google Assistant or Gemini to create a task, it can also appear in Google Calendar. As a result, any assistant must differentiate between these different types of entries and understand what “clear my day” actually means.

To ensure accuracy, the assistant will only clear appointments—defined as events that include an email address. If you have multiple calendars (for example, additional calendars under one email account, or shared work and personal calendars), the assistant will ask which calendar you are referring to. If your spouses or colleagues share their calendar as read only to your calendar, it remains read only and your assistant would not be able to touch that.

With more complex setups, a simple request like “clear my day” can become ambiguous for any assistant. We recommend creating a test event on a day with no other appointments and asking the assistant to clear that day. This helps confirm that you and the assistant are aligned on how such requests are interpreted.

The starter messages are designed for straight forward calendars. You can consider editing them to fit your needs. You might also find it beneficial to read “Do I really need to connect my email for a calendar app?”