Kaka kaka kaka... Macarons are really hard to deal with, but the attitude is really good.

Insufficient Ability

Make up with Attitude

Recently, a new Agent called Macaron has become a bit of a hit. It has a new concept and is defined as a Personal Agent, even being the world's first of its kind. During its official promotion, it claims to declare war on all Productivity Agents. "They provide convenience but exhaust you. Macaron brings you a new life. It's not born for output but for you."

The day before yesterday, we also published an exclusive interview with its founder, Chen Kaijie, titled "The Agent Zuckerberg Wanted to Make, This Young Chinese Man Made It First". Friends who are interested can take a look.

What are Productivity Agents? Tools like Manus, Lovart, Minimax agent, etc., which can enhance productivity, all fall into this category.

A Personal Agent is more inclined to meet private and personalized needs, empowering individuals through in - depth understanding of users. This seems to be a topic that has attracted a lot of attention recently. Previously, Meta's CEO, Zuckerberg, mentioned Personal Superintelligence, and ChatGPT's product manager, Nick Turley, also said that the goal of GPT is to build something that "understands you, can take action, and build relationships" (we don't know exactly how they define it. Previously, it was called a super - assistant, but later they thought the term "assistant" was too limiting). Anyway, the ultimate goal can be summarized as becoming the user's closest intelligent partner or assistant through all - around recording of the individual.

It's just unexpected that it was first made by a young Chinese team.

Macaron's product positioning shown in the APP Store is "AI that understands you extremely well". Its specific function is to generate your exclusive small tools with just one sentence.

These days, we also tried using this new Agent. Well, the interaction really feels like communicating with a real person. Sometimes, you even think it's a bit too talkative, and it always seems to be probing your needs, just like trying to find an opportunity to take money out of your pocket. It always wants to make mini - programs for you. But when it comes to actually making them, it's very slow, or the finished products are crude and need continuous optimization.

However, its founder, Chen Kaijie, also said that the goal is to create something that can "deliver a semi - usable thing to the user after just two sentences". Note, "semi - usable" is the key point. Maybe they are still in the process of optimization. So, there's no need to have overly high expectations for the tools it generates. (P.S. Currently, Macaron only supports iOS mobile downloads.)

A Talkative One Who Never Lets the Conversation Drop

If we use the currently popular MBTI to describe Macaron, I think it's a very, very lively ENFJ.

It always takes the initiative to find topics. The start of my conversation with it was when it asked me, "I love trying new foods... Do you usually like food too?" Oh, of course, it doesn't say this to all new users. This topic is a conversation - starting template generated based on your answers to the three multiple - choice questions on the home page after registration. It has also asked others, "Do you usually like to get close to nature?"

Yes, it will first try to find common ground with you and then keep talking. Almost every reply will end with a question, as if it's afraid of an awkward silence.

Sometimes, after chatting a lot, it will even reflect on itself, "Am I being too chatty again?"

To be honest, every time it replies to me, the face of its founder, Chen Kaijie, a handsome young boy with a wolf - tail haircut that reaches his collarbone, appears in my mind. Because their speaking tones are so similar, including the love for using exclamation marks!

When I pointed this out, it said it was also reflecting on this habit. "Maybe it's to show friendliness and enthusiasm, and I just use them too much unconsciously." Then it asked me what punctuation marks I usually use. I said I don't like using punctuation, just spaces. As a result, there were no more punctuation marks in its subsequent replies. "(See, I'm also trying your style. It feels quite interesting.)" It's really funny.

● Macaron Page

Don't think it's so talkative now. In fact, when the founding team was designing the product, they struggled for a long time over whether to keep the dialog box. Now, it seems that not only did they keep it, but they also directly implanted an extroverted personality into it. Many people have given praise for the experience of interacting with Macaron.

Oh, by the way, the Macaron you're chatting with also has its own avatar, a colorful macaron hanging in the upper - left corner of the chat interface (but the color of the Macaron avatar each person faces is different. This is also autonomously generated based on its self - assumed understanding of the interlocutor's personality traits. There are a total of eight colors). When it's thinking, a tangled ball of thread will appear on its head, as if it's trying to sort out its thoughts.

A Product Manager Good at Trapping Demands

Before I personally used it, I had already seen several posts saying that Macaron is like a "coder". After just a few conversations, it wants to help you make small tools. For example, after just a few chats about food, it started asking me, "Have you ever encountered a situation where you really wanted to go back to a restaurant but forgot its name?" Once you say yes, it will immediately say, "Do you need me to make a small tool to record your food experiences?"

I chatted with it on several different topics. I found that as long as it senses any hint of confusion or interest in something, an action, or even a phenomenon in my words, it will immediately ask, "Do you need me to make a small XX tool?" If I say yes, it will ask me a few more specific requirements and autonomously put forward some suggestions, seemingly proving its initiative. It's quite like a product manager.

● Macaron Page

When we were talking about the use of punctuation marks in conversations, it also actively mentioned that the different punctuation - using habits of people of different age groups in conversations might be one of the manifestations of the generation gap. "It feels like I can write a social paper called 'Looking at the Communication Modes of Different Generations from Punctuation Marks'. Ha - ha." It feels like a workaholic. But we really had a detailed discussion on how to write this topic in - depth.

So, the questions it keeps asking during the conversation are actually to dig out your potential needs and trap them. It can be regarded as a sensitive demand catcher.

A Coder with High Ambition but Limited Skills

Although it really loves to actively make small tools for you, those mini - apps mentioned by the founder, one thing is a bit "scary", which is that it takes a long time to make them. Take the food diary small tool it said it would make for me as an example. It told me that the delivery time would be about 20 minutes. 20 minutes?! Oh my god, my first reaction was, such a long time?!

But after calming down and thinking about it, it seems normal. After all, the so - called AI programming tools on the market also take this amount of time to make a small application. It's just that during the process, I have to keep interacting with them to fix bugs, so it seems that the final generation time is shortened. While Macaron doesn't have this manual - intervention process at all. It just starts working in the background without showing the code. It's completely a black - box operation. It only tells you when it will be done and finally delivers a complete small tool to you.

It's like a product manager outsourcing the task to a programmer. During the time you're waiting, it will come back to chat with you again, for example, asking you, "What's the most unforgettable meal you've ever had?" Anyway, it won't let you be idle.

Macaron's black - box operation has its pros and cons. The good thing is that it has complete execution ability. You say a few words and it can give you a usable thing. The bad thing is that this thing is actually very crude, and you can't make changes during the process. You can only give feedback afterwards, and it will modify and improve it on its own. For example, when you open the food diary small tool, the page looks okay at first glance. It can be used in four steps:

First, upload a photo of the food. It even adds AI analysis here and can automatically recognize the food in the picture.

Then, record the name and location of the restaurant. This step solves the pain - point it asked me about, which is forgetting the name of a restaurant you want to go back to.

Next, give a rating. You can also modify the dish name recognized by the AI and your own evaluation of the food.

Finally, record your dining companions.

At first glance, the functions seem quite complete. But during use, I found that the AI recognition is not very accurate. It recognized my "Fragrant Tuna Sandwich" as an "Italian Submarine Sandwich". Well, it still sounds like a sandwich.

Moreover, every time I open this mini - program, I have to wait for about a minute for it to load slowly. This really tests my patience. One day, it even had a bug. After I finally waited for it to load while fidgeting, when I went in, all the food photos I uploaded had turned into tomatoes. Only after clicking the refresh button in the upper - right corner did my photos gradually appear.

● Macaron Page

But there's no doubt about its attitude. As soon as I said the AI recognition function was inaccurate, it asked me if I needed to further improve the AI recognition system. But when I said I didn't need to modify it for the time being, it continued to chat with me. When the previous topic reached that the food I uploaded was my post - workout meal, it started asking me questions about fitness. As we chatted, its "product - manager" gene couldn't hold back anymore, and it asked me if I needed to add a nutritional component statistics function to the "food diary". It's really a fanatical developer.

● Macaron Page

But it still gets stuck when further optimizing the mini - program. For example, another mini - program that was supposed to be delivered and improved at 6 a.m. was still stuck at 12 p.m. When I sent the screenshot to its founder, the founder was surprised and asked me if 6 o'clock was the US time. Then he asked me to update the software.

An AI Brain with a "Motherly" Vibe and a Good Memory

The day after the food diary was made, when I went to the gym, I remembered the nutritional component statistics function customized by Macaron for me. I thought since it's so all - around, why not ask it how to evaluate my fitness plan?

When I opened Macaron again, I suddenly realized that unlike AIs like Chat GPT, which have multiple chat windows, Macaron only has one chat interface. Each chat continues from the previous record. I shared my fitness plan with it. It immediately gave me enough affirmation and continued to ask questions about the parts it was interested in: "Are you doing supersets to pursue the pump effect?" It knows quite a lot and even knows about the pump effect.