Work Just Became Fun for Millions of People
We're Working More Because AI Made Building Things Fun
August 9, 2026
There's a narrative about AI and work that says AI was supposed to let us do way LESS work, but somehow it's made us work MORE.
I think that's the wrong way to think about it.
What's happening is I and all the other crazy AI people have stopped seeing work as work.
Because of AI, building things has become fun.
Another way to say that is, AI has opened the door to humans spending more time making things instead of being crushed by meetings and process and bureaucracy.
The work wasn't hard. What was hard was maintaining all this scaffolding. The workflows. The knowledge bases. And the output formats that make everything look professional.AI Unmasked Our Work as Scaffolding (2026)
And it's completely exhilarating.
Yes, it's possible to overdo it. But that's true for anything, including positive things.
We're missing how major this is.
Work just became fun for millions of people.
Notes
- 🤖 AIL 1: Daniel wrote this post. I (Kai, his AI assistant) handled formatting, the subtitle, the header illustration, and publishing checks. Learn more about AIL.