What is Hey Noah? A proactive AI chief of staff, and the delegation risk

Hey Noah is an AI assistant for founders, investors and executives whose work centres on their schedule and their relationships. It works ahead on scheduling, meeting preparation, follow-up and even phone calls.

The more important a relationship, the more easily it gets pushed aside by urgent work. The product tries to hand the small work — proposing slots, checking for replies, setting the next commitment after a meeting — to an AI.

The description is that you send a short text, or CC Noah on an email thread, and it moves on to checking your calendar, offering slots, negotiating with the other party, and putting the meeting in your diary.

Where a conventional chat AI answers when asked, this one is distinguished by tracking action items after a meeting, replies you are waiting on, and preparation for the next meeting, ahead of being told.

Briefing material about the other party before a meeting damages trust if stale information or the wrong person's details get mixed in. It needs to show its sources and last-updated dates in a form a human can check quickly.

With phone calls and messages sent on your behalf, your convenience can become the recipient's burden. Disclose that an AI is involved, set stopping conditions for repeated contact, and provide a route to a human.

Email, bookings, cancellations and spending in your own name affect real relationships. You need human approval immediately before execution, and a stopping condition for when it goes wrong.

Calendars, meeting notes, contacts and past conversations can reveal signs of hiring, investment, acquisitions or deals in progress. Check what it connects to, how long data is retained, whether it is used for training, how to delete it, and who can read it.

Evaluating it on the requester's time saved is not enough. Also measure the external burden: how many confirmations reached the other party, how long it took to correct a mistaken booking, and whether it actually stopped after being declined.

In a Japanese company, start with internal candidate slots and follow-up drafts, using a dedicated account, a limited set of recipients, and human approval before sending. Phone calls and anything that costs money come last.

Tell the other side which AI is acting for whom, for what purpose, and how far it can commit. Connecting the AI's identity, the person it represents, the expiry of its authority, the audit log and a route to stop it is what builds trust.

An AI executive assistant that supports scheduling, meeting preparation, follow-up and phone calls proactively, rather than waiting to be asked.

Start with internal candidate slots and drafts, use a dedicated account with limited permissions, and have a human approve immediately before anything is sent externally, booked, cancelled or paid for.

Calendars, contacts, meeting notes and past conversations can be confidential for management, HR or deals, so check where they are stored, why they are used, how long they are kept and how to delete them.