AI for the commute

I love to read. I love to buy books. I love going to the library. And because I have a long commute, I’m always looking for new podcasts and audiobooks to listen to on the drive.

Now, I’ll admit something: I do have a habit of starting books and not always finishing them. Sometimes they end up stacked around the house half-read. But I’m working on that this year.

As the school year winds down, I wanted an audiobook for the drive home that was funny and encouraging. A lot of books are well written, but honestly? Some of them are just emotionally heavy, and that wasn’t the mood I needed with seven days left in the school year.

So I tried the new AI feature in DuckDuckGo.

I typed in exactly what I wanted: funny and encouraging audiobooks, my commute length, and the fact that I had seven school days left. The AI gave me several recommendations. Three of them I had already read. One wasn’t available on Spotify. But the final recommendation was The Rosie Project — and I’m listening to it now and really enjoying it.

What I liked about the experience was the specificity. Instead of searching through endless “best audiobook” lists, I could explain the actual context of my life: my mood, my commute, and the amount of time I had left before summer break. And somehow the recommendation fit almost perfectly.

That feels like a genuinely useful use of AI.

I’ll report back in a few days once I finish the book.

What is your go to on a long commute?