Tasks
Working with AI in a task
A task is a conversation that can make things. Here is what the assistant can produce, how it plans longer work, and how to steer it.
A task is where the work happens. It looks like a conversation, but the assistant in it can read the files in scope, follow the instructions you have set, and produce real artifacts that stay attached to the task.
What it can make
Ask in plain language. The assistant picks the right kind of thing to make.
| Ask for | You get |
|---|---|
| A document, brief, or write-up | A canvas — a document you and the AI edit together, live |
| A model, budget, or table | A sheet — a real spreadsheet with working formulas |
| A small tool or calculator | An app — a working mini app, optionally with its own backend |
| A picture, diagram, or mockup | An image, generated or edited |
| A short clip | A video, including animating an image you already made |
Everything it makes is versioned, so you can look at what changed and go back. Each of these — and everything else the assistant can do, from web research to sending email — is covered in How tools work.
Longer jobs get a plan
When a request needs more than a step or two, the assistant writes a todo list first and shows it in the task’s Plan section. You can watch items tick off as it works.
For self-contained steps it can hand work to another AI staff member as a subtask. The subtask gets its own thread and does its own research or drafting, then reports back. You see one coherent reply in your thread rather than a wall of the sub-agent’s chatter — and you can open the subtask from the Plan section if you want to read the working.
Steering it well
Say what “done” looks like. “A one-page summary for a client who has not read the brief” beats “summarise this”.
Point at the material. The assistant works from what is in scope. If the file it needs is sitting in your personal space and the task is in a project, it cannot see it.
Use standing instructions for the things you always want. If every document should be in British English and avoid bullet lists, put that in the project’s standing instructions once instead of repeating it every task. See What a project is.
Correct it in place. Ask for a revision of the canvas or sheet rather than starting over — you keep the version history that way.
Video takes longer
Video generation runs in the background and takes minutes, not seconds. The clip appears in the task as soon as it is ready; you do not have to keep the tab focused. Images, canvases, sheets, and apps come back within the conversation.