The Endless Promise of Efficiency and a Better Life

There is a conversation, a promise that I have been aware of for a very long time, about what exactly we will do with the time our new technologies will create in our lives. How will we use the opportunities this free time brings for our creativity, communities, and well-being? What will we do with our new-found leisure?

Throughout the decades, great thinkers and authors have considered the possibilities and failures of creating time beyond work. They have asked what those labour-saving devices are saving for - and when do we get to spend it. They have written with hope and despair about promise of ‘the leisure society’. This infographic highlights a few of my favourites.

My recent pondering of this reflects on the revolutionary changes ahead of us with the exponential growth in AI. This technology boosts efficiency by automating tasks and streamlining workflows, giving us more time.

But I'm not hearing anything about what we will do with this additional time—except to do more work. There isn’t much discussion about how AI's gains can be used for creative, meaningful, and civic pursuits.

Maybe it’s because we know better. History shows that technological advances often blur work-life boundaries, increasing expectations for faster output and constant availability. Are we pessimistic, realistic, or cynical about this opportunity? Rather than leading to true leisure or meaningful pursuits beyond work, AI will simply fuel a culture of hyper-productivity, pushing people to do more, work faster and deepen inequality.

As we look to become increasingly efficient and reap the gains of AI, is it so we can do more and more things? Will AI free us for deeper, more reflective, social or environment-enhancing activities, or will it simply accelerate the pace of life, increasing pressure to fill our time with more meaningless tasks?