Have you noticed? It’s happening again.

We all thought AI would do the work for us.

Free us up. Just like other technical advances, such as the internet.

We thought AI would draft the emails, design the layouts, write the copy, even finish the project while we took a coffee break.

But somehow, we’re all busier than ever.

The truth is, AI didn’t really replace work. It replaced the waiting.

Before, waiting was part of the rhythm. Waiting for a draft, waiting for feedback, waiting for approval, waiting for permission.

That built-in constraint mattered. It let us breathe, adjust, or procrastinate without consequences. It let us say no-can-do at times.

Now, drafts are instant, feedback is expected immediately, and quick turnaround is assumed. Speed is the new baseline.

So what actually changed?

The work didn’t disappear, it changed shape.

Less waiting. More deciding. More finishing. Every decision you used to push off now lands squarely on your desk as the main work.

For creators, this shift is tangible. The early-stage drafts may come faster, but now you’re responsible for picking, refining, and finalising, often in the same expectation of time.

The tools are faster, but the human judgment requirement hasn’t gotten any lighter.

So the pressure didn’t vanish, it moved upstream. AI forces us to confront the part of work we can’t delegate: judgment, decision-making, and follow-through.

Maybe that’s the real challenge. Not how AI can do the work for us, but how we manage the work it uncovers. Less waiting doesn’t mean less work. It means more focus on decisions that actually matter.

And if we can handle that, maybe we’ll finally get the results we were hoping AI would deliver, but on our terms.