Anthropic can’t keep up with its own AI either

The increased efficiency from AI tools has paradoxically led to more work and a feeling of being constantly behind, a phenomenon explained by the Jevons paradox. This paradox states that as a resource becomes more efficient to use, its total consumption increases, applying here to human attention. The article proposes a method inspired by 1920s factory inspection to manage AI outputs, suggesting readers stop trying to check everything and instead focus on a select few to ensure overall trust.

• AI tools initially save time but lead to increased workloads as saved time is filled with more tasks.
• The Jevons paradox describes how increased efficiency in using a resource leads to increased total consumption of that resource, applied here to human attention.
• Parkinson’s Law also contributes, stating that work expands to fill the time available, meaning AI freeing up time leads to more tasks moving in.
• Even companies like Anthropic struggle to keep up with the volume of AI-generated work, highlighting that humans are becoming bottlenecks.
• The article advocates for a shift from trying to check all AI outputs to intentionally choosing what to review, reducing the spread of attention.
• This approach is compared to factory quality control methods from the 1920s, where sampling and standards replaced full inspection.
• A system is needed to filter AI outputs, directing human attention only to what truly matters, similar to how we prioritize reviewing different types of colleague work.
  https://bender.layer3.press/articles/a53edc8a-8977-4640-a390-2daa8fb39b1f