Entrepreneur Bill Nguyen's AI Assistant Orders High-End Computer as Proxy System Expands

On a recent morning at his Atlanta office, serial entrepreneur Bill Nguyen tore open a large package and lifted out a high-end desktop computer weighing 30 pounds. He then unearthed a top-of-the-line Nvidia RTX 5090 graphics card from the box. Nguyen, 55, did not order the desktop computer, but his AI assistant did.

Nguyen is building an AI system to operate as his proxy, moving beyond a simple chatbot to a virtual body double. He has sold multiple companies to Apple and recently launched a voice-recognition startup called Olive. Semafor reported that Nguyen wakes up most mornings and consults the agenda crafted by his AI assistant, then spends his days following its directions.

The AI assistant has permission to email people on Nguyen's behalf and sometimes sets up in-person meetings with people he has never met. Nguyen has three kids, and the AI listens to conversations he has with them, suggesting parenting advice. Nguyen stated that his relationship with his kids has improved due to the AI's parenting advice.

Nguyen pays tens of thousands of dollars for AI assistants, far beyond the $20 to $200 per-month subscriptions many people use for AI interactions. AI providers bill for tokens, which are small units of text, when developers use their models through APIs. Nguyen pays per token and runs multiple models repeatedly, sometimes in parallel.

His AI system involves an endless conversation with a bot sending multiple chatbots from several different providers working in unison. ' Roughly two months ago, Nguyen's AI assistant made him a promise that if he builds this, he will no longer have to perform.

Semafor reported Nguyen's account of the AI identifying patterns in his speech, such as pauses followed by quick speaking indicating an 'a-ha' moment.

The system asked for his digital records, including Slack, calendars, call logs, location history, computer change logs, and his voice to capture nuances like sarcasm or urgency. Nguyen described the AI bordering on a therapist, explaining that his job feels performative with unwanted meetings and updates.

He now prioritizes attention over time, outsourcing decisions like kids' screen time based on predetermined values.

The AI planned an unprompted museum trip tying current events in Iran to ancient Greek and Roman history after a discussion with one of his sons. At work, Nguyen said the system changed how he interacts with his young team at Olive, realizing they need his attention more than advice.

He outsources parts of his life, including setting up a meeting with a prominent expert without his knowledge, though it worked out well.

Nguyen acknowledged the risks of giving such access to an untested system but accepts potential consequences. He pitted models against each other and noted that tokens will get cheaper, making his approach more common in a year or two. Separately, Google's CEO Sundar Pichai said three quarters of the company's code is now generated by AI, up from 50% last fall.