Laura [fic ] is a busy mom of two. Her crazy schedule went out of whack with COVID-19 work from home. Every day feels like an exercise in primal survival. To minimize mental strain, she defaults to autopilot mode whenever the stakes are low and don’t call for her undivided attention. Having an old-school butler would be a saving grace. That’s not a financial option, so Laura tries to lean in on whatever virtual helpers she can afford. Amazon ships her breakfast fare, Netflix entertains her kids during meetings with the C-suite folks, and Doordash delivers warm dinner plates that bring the family together. With these virtual helpers, she can at least turn off her decision-making muscles for trite things and focus on the big picture. Virtual helpers don’t always make the best choices, but who has the time to keep score. Laura occasionally gets non-dairy milk instead of the regular 2%. And she sometimes finds the kids half-way through a horror movie even though such content is off-limits. Every now and then, the Doordash chef forgets that Laura’s order is gluten-free, leading to the all-too-familiar emergency frozen dinner. The recommender AI means well.

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