As artificial intelligence continues to replace human labor in various sectors, questions arise about how society should reinterpret the use of time freed from traditional work tasks. This debate has been recently highlighted by Meta’s chief technology officer, Andrew Bosworth, who argued that time saved through AI-driven automation should not be dedicated to leisure, but rather to the creation of additional products. However, writer Nadia Beard challenges this perspective, suggesting that such a view overlooks deeper considerations of purpose and meaning beyond productivity.
Beard reflects on her personal experience stepping away from her full-time journalism career in London to study piano intensively for a year at a conservatoire in Tbilisi. Despite not aspiring to professional status, she devoted significant time to an activity largely unconnected to economic gain or career advancement. The choice puzzled many in her circle, illustrating a common societal challenge: the difficulty in appreciating pursuits outside purely work-related or consumptive frameworks.
She argues that contemporary culture remains heavily shaped by productivity values, which equate human worth with measurable output and economic contribution. This mindset often extends beyond the workplace into how leisure and free time are understood, reducing non-work activity to acts of consumption or preparation for future economic benefit. In this context, earnest engagement in activities for their own sake—such as serious amateur music practice—can seem inexplicable or inefficient.
Beard highlights that our society has long embraced certain forms of disciplined amateur engagement, notably in sports, where people train and compete without professional ambitions. This acceptance may be partly due to the health benefits associated with physical activity. However, aesthetic and intellectual pursuits like music, literature, and art have increasingly lost their place as valued dimensions of a well-rounded life. Historically, such cultural activities were seen as vital to personal development and even spiritual flourishing, accessible beyond elite classes as part of “living a good life.”
The writer emphasizes the erosion of vocabulary and societal recognition for experiences valued solely for their intrinsic qualities rather than tangible outcomes. Engaging deeply with art or music, for instance, offers cognitive and emotional rewards that resist commodification. In a time when digital platforms and algorithms aggressively compete for attention—often geared toward content generation and monetization—devoting oneself to unquantifiable, unsharable personal pursuits can be viewed as an act of resistance.
Beard frames this approach as radical in political terms, underscoring how spending time on activities that cannot be optimized or commercialized challenges prevailing economic and social paradigms. By doing so, individuals reclaim autonomy over their time and affirm that not all human experience is available for market exchange.
Her insights contribute to an ongoing conversation about the implications of AI and automation for individual purpose, societal values, and the meaning of work and leisure in the 21st century. As technological advances reshape labor markets, reconsidering the relationship between time, productivity, and human fulfillment remains a pressing cultural question.