How Andela’s CEO uses AI agents to simplify family life

Andela CEO Carrol Chang told Business Insider how she started using AI agents to organize her family life in New York. As a mother of three, she says the time spent on administrative tasks has dropped from five to eight hours a week to around two hours.

Andela helps companies implement AI by connecting them with technology professionals. Chang says she has no engineering background and built the agents using different AI models, following the systems’ own instructions.

Agents for schedules, school, and meals

The first agent manages the children’s sports schedule. Since games take place on different days and in different neighborhoods, Chang used to have to look up routes on Google Maps and record travel time in her calendar, both for the trip there and back. Now, the agent calculates the route and sends invitations, indicating the mode of transport and the estimated duration—for example, a 23-minute Uber ride.

A second agent reads school emails, selects relevant information, and adds events to the calendar. The priority is to alert about school closures. The children attend a bilingual school and take Spanish classes, so the agent was instructed to ignore warnings about the Mandarin class. Messages sent directly by people, such as teachers, reach parents without filters.

The third tool supports meal planning, taking food allergies into account. Previously, the family alternated between 15 dishes written down on their phone. Now, AI suggests new menus that meet everyone’s needs and indicates the items to be purchased in shopping apps that already integrate AI.

How to get started without technical training

Chang explains that she asked the AI itself to detail the process step by step, using simple language, as if she were talking to a seventh grader. With two browsers open, she followed the instructions until the system worked. The account shows a possible path for those who don’t program: describe the task and ask the model for guidance in accessible language.

Verification is part of the process

People also make mistakes, so you need to have a system to check the AI.

The executive points out that agents can make mistakes. In practice, this means checking invitations, schedules, and filtered alerts before trusting the result. Since agents access emails and calendars, it is also essential to review the permissions granted to each tool.

Effects on daily life

With the reduction in time spent on administrative tasks, Chang says she sleeps more and has better quality sleep, and feels less stress. She says that daily interaction with her children and family has become more enjoyable.

The case is individual, and the results depend on the type of task and the level of verification done by the person using the agents. The experience combines calendar, email, and meal planning—repetitive activities with defined rules that are subject to human verification.