Original article: https://hbr.org/2026/02/ai-doesnt-reduce-work-it-intensifies...
AI doesn’t reduce work, it intensifies it
simonwillison.net
AI doesn’t reduce work, it intensifies it
1–10 of 329 posts
Re: AI doesn’t reduce work, it intensifies it
#2Doesn't have to be that way, it's about managers being realistic and not pushing people too far
Re: AI doesn’t reduce work, it intensifies it
#3> I've had conversations with people recently who are losing sleep because they're finding building yet another feature with "just one more prompt" irresistible.
This is actually a really good point that I have kind of noticed when using AI for side project, so being on my own time. The allure of thinking "Oh I wonder how it will perform with this feature request if I give it this amount of info".
Can't say I would put off sleep for it but I get the sentiment for sure.
Re: AI doesn’t reduce work, it intensifies it
#4I feel agentic development is a time sink.
Previously, I'd have an idea, sit on it for a while. In most cases, conclude it's not a good idea worth investing in. If I decided to invest, I'd think of a proper strategy to approach it.
With agentic development, I have an idea, waste a few hours chasing it, then switch to other work, often abandoning the thing entirely.
I still need to figure out how to deal with that, for now I just time box these sessions.
But I feel I'm trading thinking time for execution time, and understanding time for testing time. I'm not yet convinced I like those tradeoffs.
Edit: Just a clarification: I currently work in two modes, depending on the project. In some, I use agentic development. In most, I still do it "old school". That's what makes the side effects I'm noticing so surprising. Agentic development pulls me down rabbit holes and makes me loose the plot and focus. Traditional development doesn't, its side effects apparently keep me focused and in control.
Re: AI doesn’t reduce work, it intensifies it
#5I have found that attending to one task keeps me going for longer.
I prompt and sit there. Scrolling makes it worse. It's a good mental practice to just stay calm and watch the AI work.
Re: AI doesn’t reduce work, it intensifies it
#6> I've had conversations with people recently who are losing sleep because they're finding building yet another feature with "just one more prompt" irresistible. This is actually a really good point that I have kind of noticed when using AI for side project, so being on my own time. The allure of thinking "Oh I wonder how it will perform with this feature request if I give it this amount of info". Can't say I would p…
What kills me personally is that I'm constantly 80% there, but the remaining 20% can be just insurmountable. It's really like gambling: Just one more round and it'll be useful, OK, not quite, just one more, for hours.
Re: AI doesn’t reduce work, it intensifies it
#7[deleted]
Re: AI doesn’t reduce work, it intensifies it
#8Computer languages were the lathe for shaping the machines to make them do whatever we want, AI is a CNC. Another abstraction layer for making machines do whatever we want them to do.
Re: AI doesn’t reduce work, it intensifies it
#9Maybe it would be much better to just link to the original article instead of somewhere else for the full context to read. [0]
Also this post should link to the original source as well.
As per the submission guidelines [1]:
”Please submit the original source. If a post reports on something found on another site, submit the latter.”
[0] https://hbr.org/2026/02/ai-doesnt-reduce-work-it-intensifies...
Re: AI doesn’t reduce work, it intensifies it
#10This is not a technology problem. AI intensifies work because management turns every efficiency gain into higher output quotas. The solution is labor organization, not better software.