Let AI do the chores, not the joy.

The rule.

AI should take the chores, not the parts where the doing is the reward. Before you automate a task, ask one thing. Is the process itself part of the value? If it is, keep a human in it.

What I hand over, and what I keep.

I run this test on my own work all the time. A stack of agents does the parts I would never miss. Bookkeeping and VAT. Splitting shared expenses. The inbox and the calendar. Who I have not spoken to in a while. Meeting follow-ups. Packing lists. Loyalty points. The second-hand listing that needs a description before it can go up. The monthly look at which pages on my sites need work.

Every one of those was eating an evening. None of them was the point.

The parts I kept are the parts I would defend. Deciding what matters this week. Who gets my time. The trip itself.

Travel is where I notice it most. AI is fine at a longlist of hotels. It is not good at the shortlist. Finding the right route, deciding what is really worth doing, sensing where you can do nothing at all and just be bored for an afternoon: that part I keep.

One rule in the system says it out loud: propose first, never headless. Nothing leaves the house without my word. That line does more for the quality of my work than any model upgrade.

Where it comes from.

Clare Jones, the CEO of Polarsteps, drew the line through travel. There is a wave of AI startups right now promising to make booking super efficient. For a work trip, fine. Nobody wants to spend hours comparing hotels and flights. Hand that to an agent.

A once-a-year adventure is different. The planning is part of the anticipation. Playing with the map. Moving the itinerary around. Working out if you can squeeze in that one lake. The joy starts long before you leave.

Why it works.

Two things break when you automate the joyful part.

First, you forget there is joy in deciding. Get too used to the quick answer and your own choices start to feel like a chore. And they are your choices, not a model’s.

Second, a statistical model averages. It sends everyone to the same places, over and over. Efficiency at scale makes everything greyer.

Clare’s sharpest point is a short list. People baked bread during the lockdowns, and not because the shops were empty. People tend gardens while gardeners exist. Artists still paint, long after the camera was invented. Making things is part of being human.

How to try it.

If you build with AI, separate the chore from the craft. Automate the chore without mercy. Keep the craft in human hands, and make it richer, not just faster. The failure mode is to optimise the whole funnel for speed and quietly delete the part people actually enjoyed.

AI as a running start. Good. AI that dreams up the whole adventure for you. Then you have taken the fun out before you even left.

Source: Clare Jones, CEO of Polarsteps, on LinkedIn, October 2026.