The AI Productivity Illusion: Saving Individual Time Slows Down Organizations
DanWahlin · x · 2026-07-31
The article argues that we are measuring AI productivity fundamentally wrong by focusing on "how much time it saved me" rather than "how much time it saved everyone."
The Hidden Cost Shift & Productivity Illusion
- Historically, writing was expensive, forcing authors to self-edit. AI has reduced the cost of producing words to near zero, but the cost of reading hasn't changed.
- An author might generate a document much faster, but because it's longer and unedited, colleagues spend significantly more time reading or reviewing it (e.g., AI-generated pull requests).
Measuring only individual efficiency creates a mirage of a miracle. When accounting for everyone's time across the organization, AI might actually be making us slower.
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