Worth Reading – AI has made work almost endless, but it doesn’t have to be this way

Last week, I shared some thoughts about how America is heading toward the Infinite Workweek, thanks to AI

Naturally, when this post came across my feeds this week, it got my attention:

I wrote about an early version of this problem almost a year ago: AI promised to make us more efficient, and the time we saved just got filled with more work. Agents have only made that worse. The agent doesn’t get tired, but you do.

https://www.modernleader.is/p/ai-has-made-work-almost-endless-but-it-doesn-t-have-to-be-this-way

It’s true, the agents never stop. The automated workflows don’t know that it’s 2 AM when someone fills in that form on the website and kicks off a process, or that the research it’s doing or data it’s crunching can wait until tomorrow. That’s where the famous “human in the loop” has to offer that insight, but it’s hard to do when you know one extra step can get things even further along the process, and then another, and another, and every agent action requires review before the next one, etc.

We aren’t disciplined enough to stop ourselves, especially when the culture rewards those who don’t. In my opinion, that’s what most organizations get wrong: they talk about not burning out, not working too many hours, and maybe they even understand the negative impacts on work quality that come from overwork.

But who gets the kudos during team meetings or all-hands meetings? It’s not the ones setting boundaries to protect their mental health. It’s the ones who work all the time.

That’s the culture you put forward, and the one your employees are responding to, and likely burning out from.

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