WSJ: Your Prize for Saving Time at Work With AI: More Work (July 8, 2025)
It’s the age-old tension between employee satisfaction and employer-demanded productivity. I (optimistically) believe it’s possible to use AI tools to take the drudgery out of the least agreeable parts of work and provide more time for creativity and innovative pursuits.
A recent survey found nearly half of workers believe their AI time savings should belong to them, not their employers. That survey, conducted by business-software maker SAP, also found that workers using AI save almost an hour a day on average.
But my optimism is tempered by knowing that a recession is coming, and companies have used these downturns to prune headcount and raise expectations of remaining employees. This seems the likely result, regardless of how these tools could be mutually beneficial.
The clear message from [Andy Jassy] and other business leaders is that we can’t simply do as much work as we’ve been doing, in less time, and clock out early. If we do, we risk being replaced by someone who uses AI to increase output.