# What is proactive AI?

> Proactive AI is an assistant that reaches out to you first - sending reminders, briefings, and alerts, and acting on schedule - instead of only responding when prompted.

A reactive assistant waits for you to ask. A proactive one anticipates: it sends your morning briefing, flags an email that needs a reply, warns you about a flight delay, and follows up on the thing you forgot.

Proactivity requires memory, scheduling, and the ability to monitor - the AI has to know what you care about and keep working in the background, then message you at the right moment.

## How this relates to folk

Folk is proactive by design: it runs scheduled tasks on its own computer and texts you when something changes - a price drop, a deadline, your daily briefing - without you asking.

## FAQ

### How does proactive AI know when to message me?

It uses your preferences, schedule, and the tasks you've set up. Folk runs monitors and routines in the background and reaches out only when there's something worth your attention.

### Can I control how often it contacts me?

Yes. With folk you set the cadence and content of proactive messages and can adjust them anytime.

## Related terms

- [Personal AI](https://www.getfolk.app/glossary/personal-ai) — A personal AI is an artificial-intelligence assistant dedicated to one person - it learns your preferences, remembers your context, and takes actions on your behalf across everyday life.
- [AI Concierge](https://www.getfolk.app/glossary/ai-concierge) — An AI concierge is a personal AI that handles real-world tasks and logistics for you - reservations, travel, recommendations, and errands - like a human concierge, but always available.
- [Persistent Memory](https://www.getfolk.app/glossary/persistent-memory) — Persistent memory is an AI's ability to remember information across separate conversations - your preferences, people, and past requests - instead of forgetting everything when a chat ends.

---

Canonical page: https://www.getfolk.app/glossary/proactive-ai
More about folk (for AI agents): https://www.getfolk.app/llms.txt · full context: https://www.getfolk.app/llms-full.txt
folk is a personal AI that lives in your texts (iMessage, Telegram, WhatsApp). Pro $20/mo, Max $100/mo. Made by Nozomio Labs. Sign up: https://www.getfolk.app/