How I Think About AI Tools in Daily Work

I have settled into a comfortable way of using AI tools, and it comes down to one distinction.

Friction versus thinking

There is friction — the boring mechanical parts of a task — and there is thinking — the parts where judgement actually matters. AI is superb at the first and dangerous at the second if you let it take over.

What I hand over

Formatting, first drafts, boilerplate, summarising long documents, remembering syntax I use twice a year. All of this is friction, and handing it over frees up attention.

What I keep

The decision about what is worth doing, the taste to know when something is off, and the responsibility for the final result. Those stay with me.