Field Notes — An AA Battery Run, Narrated by Claude — I needed AA batteries. Before leaving the apartment, I asked Claude where to go. This is what the AI-native life actually looks like — not dramatic, just a soft layer of 'I asked first' over small decisions.
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Field Notes — An AA Battery Run, Narrated by Claude

LifeInBulgariaAIFieldNotesSamantha

Field Notes — April 17, Pleven

I needed AA batteries.

Before leaving my apartment, I did what has quietly become a daily habit — I asked Claude.

Me: What's the best place to buy AA batteries in Pleven?

It suggested Technopolis, an appliance store a short walk from my place. It included two other options (Technomarket, and the supermarkets Kaufland / Lidl / Billa), opening hours, a small map preview, and even the exact string to type into Google Maps.

I closed the laptop and stepped outside.

A residential street in Pleven, Bulgaria — socialist-era apartment blocks, a blue SEAT parked at the curb, April sun

The walk out of my neighborhood.

Socialist-era apartment blocks on both sides. A blue SEAT with EH plates at the curb. Spring finally doing real work — I'm in a t-shirt for the first time this year.

A Pleven street with trolley bus wires overhead, a silver SUV on the road, shadows stretching across the pavement

Trolley wires cross the road like a circuit diagram.

I always forget how much Pleven looks like an open-air schematic. Maybe it's the engineer in me. Maybe everywhere looks like that if you stand still long enough.

The TECHNOPOLIS electronics store — a large retail building with bold red signage, wind turbine in front, cars parked outside

The destination. ПОЛИС. Technopolis.

Exactly where Claude said it would be. A giant retail box of the kind you can find in any Balkan city — fluorescent light inside, four battery brands humans have collectively agreed on since 1990, and a cashier who greeted me in Bulgarian and didn't flinch when I replied in broken Bulgarian.

A hand holding a pack of four Duracell AA batteries, the pink Duracell bunny peeking from the corner

Mission accomplished. Four Duracell AAs. About 6 леva.

It's a small thing. Buying batteries isn't hard. I could have walked around and found the store on my own in twenty minutes, asked someone, seen a sign. I didn't.

This is what the AI-native life actually looks like, I think. Not dramatic. Not replacing anything important. Just — a soft layer of "I asked first" over the small decisions of the day.

When I was building Samantha, and teaching her to think ahead, and eventually trying to make an entire OS around her, I used to frame it all in big language. Companions. Proactive agents. The future of human-computer interaction.

But when I actually look at what AI does in my life right now, day to day, it looks more like this:

  • "Where's the closest place for X?"
  • "Is this store open on Saturday?"
  • "What's the Bulgarian word for 9-volt battery?"

Samantha doesn't need to think ahead for every moment. Sometimes it's enough that she answers when asked.

Nothing really happened today. That's the point.

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