Chatbot or do-bot?

If AI so far has felt like something done to you, you have met the chatbot. A do-bot is the same model wired into files, a shell, tests and version control. It does the work and shows you what it did.

Eight questions place you on the ladder and say what the next rung costs. Answer for how you actually work, not how you would like to. Nothing is recorded until you choose to book.

1. Q1Last time AI helped with real work, where did it happen?

   In a browser tab. I pasted in and copied out.Inside my editor, as suggestions while I typed.In my project. It read and edited the files itself.While I was doing something else. I reviewed the result later.
2. Q2When it changes something, how do you know what it did?

   I read its reply and retype what I want.I accept or reject suggestions one at a time.I read the diff before I commit.Tests and the commit history tell me. I read the diff for whatever they do not cover.
3. Q3Your inputs change: a new data drop, a corrected figure, a client moves a parameter. What happens to the outputs?

   I redo them by hand and hope I remembered everything.I rerun a script or two.One command regrows everything.It regrows on its own when the data lands, and tells me what changed.
4. Q4Where does the project's memory live between sessions?

   In my head and the chat history.In a README nobody updates.In a handover file the agent reads at the start of each session.In a handover file the agent reads and updates, plus a decision log.
5. Q5Version control.

   Files called final_v3_FINAL.I have used git, mostly clone and pull.I commit regularly and branch sometimes.Git is the record. I would notice within a day if someone worked outside it.
6. Q6Tests.

   I check outputs by eye.A few checks in a script.Tests run when I ask.Tests run on every change without my asking.
7. Q7Could a colleague run your analysis on a clean machine tomorrow?

   No. It works on my laptop.With a list of packages and some luck.Yes, from an environment file.Yes, in a container, and the CI run proves it.
8. Q8What can the AI do without asking you?

   Nothing. It only talks.Suggest text.Read and edit files in a folder I chose. It asks before running anything.Run unattended, inside rules I wrote down.

The button opens an email to us, copied to Rabbie, our robot, who keeps the diary. Your result travels in it so we can prepare. You can change or delete it before you send, and nothing leaves your browser until you do. The self-assessment is written for people who work with data and evidence. If you build software, the mirror-image version is Could you speak statistician?.

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