What do we lose when AI does our work?
The article explores the emotional and psychological impact of relying on AI to perform tasks, questioning what is lost when humans delegate creative and productive work to machines. The author reflects on how AI bypasses the meaningful process of task initiation, which can lead to a sense of disconnection from the work. While AI excels at reducing friction, it risks undermining the personal investment and clarity that emerge through human effort.
- ▪The author runs Flow Club, a group productivity program that helps people focus and complete tasks through shared work sessions.
- ▪AI simplifies task initiation by generating output from minimal input, potentially bypassing the human process of goal formation and commitment.
- ▪Delegating tasks to AI can create a disconnect between the person and their work, leading to a sense of meaninglessness despite high productivity.
- ▪The article warns that AI often produces 'median outputs,' which may cause users to prematurely abandon good ideas that appear mediocre in early form.
- ▪The author wrote this essay by first drafting their own thoughts, then using AI to refine them, advocating for a balanced approach to AI assistance.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
What do we lose when AI does our work? Ricky Yean Uncategorized May 4, 2026 5 Minutes I’ve been asking myself this as more powerful AI takes over more of my work. I’m in awe of what it produces, and yet I keep noticing a quiet dissatisfaction I can’t quite put my finger on. The artifacts are real. My role in producing them feels less so. What does that mean for me?1 Over the past five years, I’ve been working on Flow Club. The mechanism is almost embarrassingly simple — a group workout class, but for any kind of work. Members sign up for a session, briefly share what they’re working on, then put their heads down and work alongside each other for a fixed time.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Ricky Yean.
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