AI was supposed to give people time back. The early data says it gave them more to do.
The AI workload creep loop:
- AI automates task X.
- Productivity increase Y is expected.
- Spare time Z is filled with deeper analysis of X.
- Complexity of X increases.
- AI is required to manage the new complexity.
Repeat.
We are entering the ‘Verification Crisis’. As AI generates more output, the cost of creation drops, but the cost of verification remains human-scale. We aren’t working less; we are spending more of our time fact-checking, auditing, and editing what the machine produced.
The risk for businesses isn’t that they won’t adopt AI. It’s that they will adopt it and immediately fill the saved time with more artificial work.
