How to make AI do a job on its own every day or week: scheduled tasks in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Copilot

You write the job once, choose a time, and the AI repeats it on its own. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Microsoft 365 Copilot can all run a request at a set time, every day or every week, and leave the result waiting for you: a Monday summary, a list of reminders, a draft of social posts. The task sees only your words, public web pages if the assistant searches them, and your email, calendar or files only if you have given it access. Read every result before you use it. The menus below were checked on the makers’ help pages on 3 November 2026.

This site is written with AI tools, including Claude by Anthropic. This page uses only what makers, public authorities and published studies say, with links.

This is lesson 6 of the free course “AI for small business”. Lesson 5 showed how to make AI remember how your business works; this lesson makes it do a job without being asked each time.

What is a scheduled task, and what is it good for?

A scheduled task is a request saved with a timetable, such as “every weekday at 7:45”. At that time the assistant runs it as if you had typed it and keeps the answer for you. The makers call it a task (ChatGPT, Claude), a schedule (Gemini) or a scheduled prompt (Copilot).

It suits jobs that are the same every time and end in something you read: a summary, a list, a draft. It does not suit facts that change by the minute: Google says Gemini prepares answers in advance.

What the task can reach. Your email, calendar or files only if you give access. Usually that means a connector, a link you switch on in the assistant’s settings that lets it read another app, such as Gmail or Outlook. Lesson 7 of this course explains connectors.

Which assistants can do it, and on which plan?

In alphabetical order, from the pages described below:

Assistant	Plan	How many tasks	Can it read your email or files?
ChatGPT	All plans, Free included; exact times and hourly tasks on paid plans	3 (Free, Go), 5 (Plus), 10 (Business), 15 (Pro, Enterprise)	Gmail and other apps only if connected
Claude	Pro, Max, Ultra, Team, Enterprise	No number stated	Through the connectors you set up, and files saved in your Claude account
Gemini	Personal Google Account or qualifying Workspace edition; no paid plan named	Up to 10 active	Gmail or Calendar only if connected
Microsoft 365 Copilot	Microsoft Copilot licence	Up to 10	Your work email, files and calendar, with the paid licence

How do you set one up, assistant by assistant?

ChatGPT (OpenAI)

From OpenAI’s help article Scheduled tasks in ChatGPT, read in a browser on 3 November 2026 because the site blocks automated reading:

Open the Scheduled page (if it does not appear in the desktop app, use ChatGPT on the web), or ask in a chat, for example “Every Monday at 8, send me …”.
Notifications: Settings, then Notifications; choose Push, Email or both. For phone notifications, create the task in the ChatGPT phone app and allow notifications.
Managing: on the Scheduled page, or click the task title in its chat, then edit, pause or delete it.

Limits: active tasks are 3 on Free and Go, 5 on Plus, 10 on Business and 15 on Pro and Enterprise. On Free a task runs at most once a day, in a rough window such as morning or night; exact times and hourly tasks need a paid plan. Tasks do not work with voice chats, GPTs or locked chats, and a task created in a project cannot read the project’s files. To read Gmail, connect it first in Settings, then Plugins (the tasks page and older phone apps call this menu Apps). A task can use your plan’s allowance even when it has nothing to report. Lesson 3 gives the prices of the paid plans.

Claude (Anthropic)

From Anthropic’s help page on scheduled tasks. Cowork, the part of Claude that carries out longer jobs, is merging with the chat gradually, starting with Pro, Max and Ultra.

If your account has the merged Claude: in any conversation, describe the job and how often. Claude asks a few questions, shows a name, a schedule and the instructions, and you click “Schedule”.
From the menu: click “Scheduled” in the left sidebar, then “New task”. Choose “Create with Claude”, or “Set up manually” and fill in a name, the instructions, the approval mode (whether Claude asks you before it acts) and how often, then click “Save”. Options: hourly, daily, weekly, on weekdays, or only when you start it.
Managing: the Scheduled page shows past and upcoming runs. From there you edit, pause, resume, delete, or run a task straight away.

Limits: paid plans only; on Team and Enterprise an administrator decides who can use it. On 3 November 2026 Pro cost 17 dollars a month paid yearly or 20 dollars monthly, before tax (pricing). Tasks run on Anthropic’s computers even when yours is asleep; a task that needs files or apps on your computer runs only there. The page states no maximum number of tasks and says nothing about notifications. Multi-step tasks use more of your plan’s allowance (Anthropic).

Gemini (Google)

From Google’s help page Schedules in Gemini Apps:

At gemini.google.com, type your request, saying when and how often, and click Submit. Gemini replies with a summary of the schedule.
Managing: in the sidebar click Scheduled. Hover over a schedule, click More, then Pause, Resume or Delete. To change it, click it, edit the form and click Save.

Limits: up to 10 active schedules, on a personal Google Account or a work or school account on a qualifying Google Workspace edition. Google says it is reaching personal accounts gradually, and names no paid plan, country or minimum age. The Keep Activity setting must be on: for personal accounts, Google’s privacy page says it saves your chats and uses them to improve its services, including training its AI models. You get a notification on your phone; on the web, the chat is marked as unread. To read Gmail or Calendar, connect the app: in the sidebar, Customize, then Connectors, then Add (Google).

Microsoft 365 Copilot (Microsoft)

From Microsoft’s help page on scheduling prompts and its admin page:

In Copilot Chat, signed in with your Microsoft 365 account, send your request once.
Hover over it and select “Schedule this prompt”. Choose when it runs, how many times, and whether you want an email when the answer is ready. Select “Save”.
Managing: ”… Settings and more” at the top right, then “Scheduled prompts”: “Run now”, “Edit Schedule”, “Turn off” or “Delete”.

Limits: up to 10 scheduled prompts, and “A Microsoft Copilot license is required”. It also works in Copilot in Teams and Outlook; the admin page says the option appears only in the Work IQ tab, where Copilot answers using your work data. Microsoft’s overview says that with the paid Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on licence, answers use your work emails, files, meetings and calendars, limited to what you already have permission to see. Lesson 3 gives its price.

Which jobs can you schedule? Three requests to copy

Replace the parts in square brackets. Each request says what to do when information is missing, so the AI does not guess.

Accountant: deadlines for the next two weeks

In Italy the official source is the Agenzia delle Entrate’s Scadenzario Fiscale, a month-by-month calendar of tax deadlines (opened on 3 November 2026).

Every Monday at 7:30, list the tax deadlines for businesses and self-employed professionals in [Italy] in the next 14 days. Use only this official page: [link]. For each deadline give the date, what is due, who it applies to and the link. If you cannot open the page, say so and list nothing from memory. Start with: “To be checked on the official page before use.”

The list is a reminder, not your deadline calendar: the AI can misread or miss a date, so check each one on the official page.

Every Thursday at 15:00, write a draft of four social media posts for next week for [name], a [type] restaurant in [town]. Use only these dishes and prices: [list]. Events: [list, or “none”]. Warm tone, up to 60 words each, with one suggested photo per post. Do not invent dishes, prices, offers or allergen information. Start with: “DRAFT, not published”.

When the menu changes, edit the task’s instructions. You publish the posts yourself, after reading them.

Shop or office: the day’s reminder list

Every weekday at 7:45, give me today’s checklist. Every day: [check the till float, reply to online messages]. Mondays: [order bread and milk]. Wednesdays: [check expiry dates]. Fridays: [prepare the week’s invoices for the accountant]. Last working day of the month: [count stock]. Put today’s date at the top and list only today’s items.

To add today’s appointments, the assistant needs your calendar: a connected Google Calendar in Claude or Gemini, or Outlook with the paid Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on licence. For ChatGPT, OpenAI’s page names Gmail, Slack and GitHub among the apps a task can use, and does not mention a calendar.

What should you never schedule?

A scheduled task runs while nobody watches. Anthropic’s safety page says: “Review outputs after each run.” It also says: “Don’t schedule tasks that access sensitive files, send messages on your behalf, make purchases, or take other actions that are difficult to undo.” OpenAI says an action that sends a message may need your approval, and the task pauses until you give it. At 7:30 on a Monday, nobody is there to approve anything.

Messages to customers, patients or suppliers. A wrong sentence would go out in your name. Schedule the draft; send it yourself.
Payments, orders and anything on your bank account.
Deleting or moving files, or changing account settings.
Decisions on tax, law or health for a client. The task collects; you and your advisers decide.
Customer or patient data in the request. The request is stored and repeated at every run, and OpenAI warns that anyone with the link to a shared task can read its instructions. What happens to what you type explains how long chats are kept.

A task that reads web pages or emails can also meet text written to trick the AI, called prompt injection: Anthropic describes it as “malicious instructions” hidden “in external content”. Let a task read and draft, never act.

What do you do when a task fails or goes wrong?

No result arrived. Open the list of tasks: it may be paused or off. Google says a schedule may turn off by itself because of inactivity. OpenAI says a ChatGPT task may pause if it is inactive, needs something from you (such as an approval), or its chat was archived or deleted. In Copilot, the prompt may have used up the number of runs you chose. Resume it or set it up again.
It cannot read your email or calendar. Check in the settings that the app is still connected, and connect it again.
The result is wrong or made up. Add “use only these sources” and “if you cannot find it, say so” to the instructions, then run it once by hand to test it (Claude and Copilot offer this).
You close for holidays. Pause the task and resume it when you reopen.
You no longer read it. Delete it from the same list. Once a month, delete the tasks you skip.

If a task keeps failing, do the job by hand: nothing in your business should depend on a task that might not run.

Where to go next

Lesson 5: make AI remember how your business works shows how to write down your tone and prices once.
Lesson 4: ready-made requests for your trade gives more requests you can put on a timetable.
What is an AI agent? explains AI that acts on its own, and its risks.
AI for everyone is the complete guide to today’s AI, from the start.

Quiz: check what you learned

Pick one answer for each question: you see at once whether it is right, and why. Your answers are not sent anywhere.

Your scheduled task delivers a list of tax deadlines every Monday. What do you do with it?
Show the answer
Right answer:B. Check each date on the official page before using it
The AI can misread or miss a date. The official page is the record; the list is only a reminder.
Your Gemini schedule has stopped sending results. What does Google say may have happened?
Show the answer
Right answer:A. It was turned off automatically because of inactivity
Google says a schedule may be turned off automatically due to inactivity; you can turn it back on.
How does a scheduled task get to read your email or calendar?
Show the answer
Right answer:B. Only through access you give it, such as a connector, or the work data that comes with a paid Microsoft 365 Copilot licence
ChatGPT and Gemini need the app connected, Claude uses the connectors you set up, and the paid Microsoft licence lets Copilot use the work data you already have permission to see.
Which of these jobs should never be scheduled?
Show the answer
Right answer:C. Sending payment reminders to customers
Anything that writes to customers or touches money needs a person to read it first.

Common questions

Do I need a paid plan to schedule AI tasks?

It depends on the assistant. ChatGPT Free can run a task at most once a day, at a rough time such as morning; exact times and hourly tasks need a paid plan. Claude's scheduled tasks need a paid plan, from Pro upward, and Microsoft's scheduled prompts need a Microsoft Copilot licence. Google's page on Gemini schedules names no paid plan.

How many scheduled tasks can I have?

In ChatGPT, 3 active tasks on Free and Go, 5 on Plus, 10 on Business, 15 on Pro and Enterprise. Gemini allows 10 active schedules and Microsoft 365 Copilot 10 scheduled prompts. Anthropic's page on Claude's tasks states no maximum. Figures from the makers' help pages read on 3 November 2026.

Can a scheduled AI task send emails for me?

Do not let it. A scheduled task runs when nobody is watching, so a wrong sentence would reach the customer before you see it. Anthropic's safety page itself says not to schedule tasks that send messages on your behalf or make purchases. Let the task prepare a draft; read it and send it yourself.

Topics: AI for small business, scheduled tasks, ChatGPT tasks, Claude, Gemini, Microsoft 365 Copilot, automation