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Tim Duggan<\/a>Work columnist<\/p>\nFebruary 19, 2026 \u2014 7:55pm<\/p>\n
February 19, 2026 \u2014 7:55pm<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Get workplace news, advice and perspectives to help make your job work for you. Sign up for our weekly Thank God it\u2019s Monday newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cSomething big is happening.\u201d That was the ominous headline of a 5000-word essay<\/a> that ricocheted around the internet last week.<\/p>\n Written by Matt Shumer it breathlessly warned that the progress AI is making has now accelerated so quickly that we are severely underestimating the disruptive impact it\u2019s likely have on almost every aspect of society.<\/p>\n Although written with a bias (Shumer is the chief executive of an AI company), and frequently hyperbolic, the essay unquestionably captured the zeitgeist. Within a week, the post had been read more than 83 million times, showing how widespread the fear and interest is in this new technology that\u2019s moving quicker than we can keep up with it.<\/p>\n But amidst all the hype and hysteria, there was one big question that it didn\u2019t answer. This became clear as I scrolled past the essay published on Elon Musk\u2019s X to the next post underneath it.<\/p>\n \u201cI just watched my Mac finish a 4-hour workday in 90 seconds,\u201d wrote the poster, alongside a breathless video demonstrating a new AI product. It showed a user speaking to their computer \u2013 because apparently even typing is one of the chores it wants to eliminate.<\/p>\n AI is so focused on creating the perfect end product that they haven\u2019t realised that the imperfect process of creation is just as important.<\/p>\n In the demo, a hypothetical worker receives an email from their boss asking where the report is that was due that day? The worker asks their robot to make up an excuse and automatically send an email, then gets AI to automatically write the report, automatically turn it into presentation slides and automatically attach it with an apology to their boss.<\/p>\n All of this happens with very little human intervention, nor understanding of the process or any of the thinking involved in creating the report that was submitted on their behalf.<\/p>\n Amid the admiring comments below the video was a lone commenter: \u201cWhat\u2019s the point of even having a job if a machine can do it in 90 seconds?\u201d They asked. The original poster simply replied: \u201cYou tell me.\u201d<\/p>\n Editor’s pick Which brings us to the biggest issue with AI\u2019s breakneck advancements. So many of the new developments are focused so intently on creating the perfect end product that they haven\u2019t realised that the imperfect process of creation is just as important.<\/p>\n What\u2019s the point of getting AI to write a report that we don\u2019t understand? Or craft an email that we don\u2019t care about? Or write a social post that we don\u2019t mean? All of these are superseded by the biggest question that not enough people are asking right now: do we actually want this?<\/p>\n These are complex and existential questions about the value of work, and whether our jobs are solely about the output we create, or also the intangible benefits that come along with doing hard things.<\/p>\n Work gives us structure, identity, some purpose, connection and financial security, and when you remove any of those elements, you begin to unravel some of the very core of what makes us human.<\/p>\n Now, I use AI most days, and have incorporated some of its skills into my research and workflows, but that doesn\u2019t stop me from still having red lines in areas that I don\u2019t want to use it in.<\/p>\n The direction AI is moving, and quickly, is towards a place where the role of humans doing any kind of work will be progressively erased. Is that what we really want?<\/p>\n The author of the viral essay, Shumer, was correct that something big is happening. But what he left out was that it\u2019s mostly happening against our will.<\/p>\n If we don\u2019t put some kind of brakes on it now, like international guidelines around development and implementation, we\u2019re all about to be dragged into a future that none of us are asking for.<\/p>\n Tim Duggan is author of Work Backwards: The Revolutionary Method to Work Smarter and Live Better. He writes a regular newsletter at timduggan.substack.com<\/a><\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/421eec820c1f80b3ac38c690db84eef48eacc384.jpeg\")
The direction AI is moving, and quickly, is towards a place where the role of humans doing any kind of work will be progressively erased.Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"It\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771726887_991_b705c0b11cded763092cf94b808ca168b55f495f.jpeg\")
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