How to Keep work with AI joyful, Not Soulless

How to Keep work with AI joyful, Not Soulless

When AI Kills Joy

"I feel like I'm cheating myself," a software engineer confessed after canceling his AI coding subscription.[^1]

Not because it didn't work. Because it worked too well.

This isn't an isolated case. Across industries, we're seeing the same pattern:

  • Amazon's vendor managers reduced from decision-makers to button-pushers, with many fleeing to roles where they could still "invent"[^3]
  • Coders watching "vibe coding" replace creative problem-solving[^4]
  • Writers and artists seeing their craft automated into templates

"It's like having someone trying to finish my sentence while I was still speaking," as one developer put it.[^7]

Why It Hurts

Here's a psychological truth that explains the pain: People value furniture they build themselves more than identical pre-assembled pieces. Even if their creation is wobbly.

Psychologists call it the IKEA effect.[^2] We love what we struggle to create.

When AI becomes pure automation, it steals this fundamental human satisfaction.

The Hidden Costs

On dev teams, the impact goes deeper than personal satisfaction. Senior developers report juniors showing "zero critical thinking," pasting ChatGPT's output without understanding.

"I'm stuck with them," one DevOps lead said, frustrated at having to explain concepts that would have been learned naturally through mentorship.

This creates something psychologists call "languishing" - that quiet feeling of emptiness when your work runs smoothly but means nothing. When you're productive but not proud.

The Joy Switch

It's not the technology that kills the joy of work. It's how we use it. Look at the flip side.

Some people love working with AI:

  • Non-programmers discovering they can prototype ideas
  • Writers using AI as a brainstorming partner
  • Entrepreneurs turning vague concepts into testable projects

The difference? Their joy comes from using AI as a tool for expansion rather than replacement.

The Sweet Spot

As Mitchell Cookson points out, automation can "undermine the intrinsic motivation that comes from engaging in highly challenging activities."[^6]

But that's only true when we let AI automate rather than augment.

For instance, this article is self proof. It was written with a lot of AI assistance. And yes, I found joy in it.

Why? The key lies in how you engage:

  • Exploration vs. automation
  • Direction vs. delegation
  • Collaboration vs. supervision

Making AI Work For You

Next time you use AI at work, ask yourself:

  • Am I automating something I find meaning into ?
  • Am I using the best of AI and the best of people ?
  • Am I delegating or directing?
  • Am I becoming more or less engaged?

Because here's the truth:

AI can enhance human creativity. Automation can kill it

Know the difference. Choose joy.


References:

  1. Steven Pyle on Changelog podcast, Episode 331: https://changelog.com/gotime/331
  2. Harvard Business School IKEA Effect study: https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/11-091.pdf
  3. Amazon automation impact: https://kantrowitz.medium.com/what-happened-to-amazons-employees-after-ai-automated-their-work-45711efa33bf
  4. Andrej Karpathy on "vibe coding": https://x.com/karpathy/status/1886192184808149383?lang=fr
  5. Mitchell Cookson on AI and motivation: https://www.socialchamp.com/blog/ai-and-productivity
  6. Stackoverflow survey https://stackoverflow.blog/2024/09/23/where-developers-feel-ai-coding-tools-are-working-and-where-they-re-missing-the-mark/