--- title: What to do less because of AI date: 2026-08-21T15:33:42+08:00 categories: - llms - how-i-do-things description: 'I suggest doing less because AI can take over routine tasks. For example, skip meetings where you do not speak: an agent can summarize the transcript.' tags: [future-of-work, ai-agents, productivity] --- Some ideas on what we can do less, thanks to AI. Why? Because [less is more](https://www.s-anand.net/blog/less-is-more/) and we keep getting advice on what to do _more_ of, not what to do _less_ of. 1. **Skip meetings you don't speak in**. Agents can summarize the transcript. 2. **Stop taking notes**. Agents can summarize a recording. 3. **Stop reading group chats**. Agents can summarize [WhatsApp groups](https://www.s-anand.net/blog/generative-ai-whatsapp-group-podcast/), [Hacker News](https://github.com/sanand0/blog/blob/7f6d9b2dc0ec3a2303778b045434d672c36e154c/pages/prompts/fragments.md#hacker-news-thread-summary), [Twitter](https://github.com/sanand0/blog/blob/7f6d9b2dc0ec3a2303778b045434d672c36e154c/pages/prompts/fragments.md#twitter-thread-summary), and more. 4. **Stop translations**. Agents translate _on the fly_. For you, _and_ your audience. 5. **Stop weekly status reports**. Agents can tell you (and your manager and team) the status. 6. **Stop building dashboards**. Agents tell you "what's wrong" or "what's next" directly. 7. **Stop building software at first**. Tell the agent to do the work. Let it write software if needed. Save it if you use it often. 8. **Stop writing requirements**. Agents can prototype. Test if that's what you need, first. 9. **Stop teaching coding**. Agents can code. Teach people to use agents. Also - a few things that were true pre-AI: 10. **Stop traveling unless handshakes matter**. Actually, this was true even with Zoom, etc. 11. **Stop live lectures unless there's interaction**. Actually, this was true even with YouTube, etc. ![BTW, I drew an AI generated image here which features Jordan drinking coffee while his phone records a meeting. And, for some reason, Jordan has three hands.](https://files.s-anand.net/images/2026-08-21-what-to-do-less-because-of-ai.avif) Bonus: 12. **Stop trying to remove Jordan's third hand**. You can't. You _just can't_. He is jinxed. (For now.)