This AI tool will tell you to stop slacking off

I tested a Lots of programming Tools designed over the years to prevent distractions and keep you focused. None of them work perfectly, mostly due to context.

RedditFor example, it’s something I should generally avoid during the workday, so I tend to block it out – which is a good decision for me overall. The problem is that sometimes the only place I can find a particular piece of information online is on a Reddit thread, which means that to get that information I need to turn off my distraction blocker. Then I would inevitably end up down some rabbit hole.

This is exactly the problem Dilutea distraction-preventing tool in macOS, is designed to solve this problem. The app asks you what you’re working on, then monitors everything you do on your Mac desktop — every app you open — and uses artificial intelligence to analyze what’s on your screen. The tool can tell you, from context, whether you are using a particular website productively or as a distraction.

Zach Young, part of The team behind the appHe told me on Discord that he created the app after talking with a friend who was studying for an MBA. “He needed YouTube to watch class videos, so web/app blockers didn’t work, and once he was watching, recommendations would often pull him away,” says Yang. “That’s when I started thinking about using AI to solve this problem. I built a small prototype to test whether existing models could differentiate distraction from actual work, and the results were good enough that I decided to turn it into a real project.”

Fomi offers a free three-day trial. If you decide you like it, subscription plans cost $8 per month. However, since the tool uploads screenshots of your desktop to an AI model in the cloud, there are privacy concerns you’ll need to consider before deciding whether or not a tool like this is right for you.

Watch this space

I’ve been trying this app for a few days. When you launch it for the first time, you will be asked what you do on a daily basis and what kind of tools you use to do it. Then, when it’s time to focus, you tell the program what you’re working on and which tools you plan to use while doing it.

As you work, a green dot and timer appear at the top of the screen, surrounding the notch of your MacBook. If you switch to a potentially distracting app, the dot changes to yellow. If you start engaging in things that obviously distract you, the dot will turn red and an animated tomato will scatter across the screen. You’ll see a personalized message telling you to get to work, as the app calls out your specific distractions.

Courtesy of Justin Bott