AI Gave Us Time Back. Are We Taking It?

AI is supposed to save us time.

And it does.

A spreadsheet that might have taken hours can be created in minutes. A proposal can be structured quickly. Research can be pulled together faster. Ideas can be developed, organized and refined in a fraction of the time.

• ✓Less repetitive work.
• ✓Less time spent staring at a blank page.
• ✓Faster analysis.
• ✓Faster preparation.
• ✓More time available to us.

That last one may be the most important benefit of all.

More time.

But I wonder if we are taking it.

We save two hours on a project and immediately find another project to fill them.

We finished something early, so we scheduled another meeting.

We automate part of our workload, so we add to it.

We become more efficient—and somehow end up busier than we were before.

Maybe one of the best uses of AI isn't simply helping us accomplish more.

Maybe it is helping us work less.

There is nothing wrong with ambition, productivity or wanting to build something. I love work that is interesting and meaningful.

But if technology gives us back an hour, perhaps we don't always have to give that hour straight back to work.

• ✓Go outside.
• ✓Have lunch with a friend.
• ✓Read a book.
• ✓Take a walk.
• ✓Spend time with family.
• ✓Sit in the garden.
• ✓Do absolutely nothing for a while.

Those aren't wasted hours.

They may be the reason we wanted greater efficiency in the first place.

We've spent years talking about technology helping people become more productive.

Perhaps the next conversation should be about what we choose to do with the productivity we've gained.

Because if AI allows us to accomplish five hours of work in three, and we immediately fill the remaining two hours with more work, we haven't necessarily gained time.

We've simply increased capacity.

There is a difference.

The real opportunity may not be doing more with AI. It may be allowing AI to give some of our lives back to us.