When we delegate to AI, we assume it will lower costs by providing more capacity. Yet that extra capacity raises the amount of work we expect from everyone. As we take on more, expenses actually increase. AI gives us more capacity and creates more work. It’s valuable, but there’s a hidden cost you address perfectly in this article.
For the lawyers and advisers I train, the time saved on a first draft tends to reappear at sign-off, because a named person is still accountable for the final version. I like that Cory's test comes at the start of the process, where it saves the most rework.
I’ve definitely saved ten minutes generating something and then spent twenty checking it properly. Once your name is on the final version, you’re reading it anyway.
This happens to me most when I haven’t given AI enough of my own thinking first. Starting from my rough notes is usually much quicker than trying to rescue something it invented from a blank prompt.
When we delegate to AI, we assume it will lower costs by providing more capacity. Yet that extra capacity raises the amount of work we expect from everyone. As we take on more, expenses actually increase. AI gives us more capacity and creates more work. It’s valuable, but there’s a hidden cost you address perfectly in this article.
The extra work part is what I keep noticing. AI gives me room to take on more, and somehow the quiet afternoon never actually arrives.
The real skill is knowing what to automate, what to verify, and where human judgment remains essential.
Saving time upfront means little if review and corrections consume those gains. The three question test offers a practical way to decide.
For the lawyers and advisers I train, the time saved on a first draft tends to reappear at sign-off, because a named person is still accountable for the final version. I like that Cory's test comes at the start of the process, where it saves the most rework.
I’ve definitely saved ten minutes generating something and then spent twenty checking it properly. Once your name is on the final version, you’re reading it anyway.
Cheap delegation getting expensive later is the truest sentence in that whole piece.
It’s one of those lessons that sounds obvious after you’ve learnt it the expensive way.
I’ve paid that bill before 😅 Hand something over cheaply, then lose half an afternoon fixing what came back.
Few people think about the "externalities" of AI.
AI gets us quicker to a first draft. But getting something you want to put your name on can take far longer than if you had done it yourself.
This happens to me most when I haven’t given AI enough of my own thinking first. Starting from my rough notes is usually much quicker than trying to rescue something it invented from a blank prompt.