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TF Tim Ferriss Tim Ferriss Author, early-stage technology investor and podcaster whose books include The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, The 4-Hour Chef, Tools of Titans and Tribe of Me...

“The leisure time, I hope that's true. There have been so many technologies with that promise… And I have not yet seen it. I don't know anyone who's like, I used AI to free up a bunch of free time that I'm now using for kiteboarding and knitting. They're like, I was doing two projects, but now I can do 10 projects.”

The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss · Ideas & Essays · October 2026

“The leisure time, I hope that's true. There have been so many technologies with that promise… And I have not yet seen it. I don't know anyone who's like, I used AI to free up a bunch of free time that I'm now using for kiteboarding and knitting. They're like, I was doing two projects, but now I can do 10 projects.” — Tim Ferriss, The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss

Kevin Rose had said he hopes AI assistants will give people more in-person time. Ferriss was sceptical. He cited the Industrial Revolution as one of many technologies that promised more leisure, and asked what happens when an AI companion is easier to deal with than a partner or a parent.

The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss · 2026-10-09 Listen to the episode → More from Tim Ferriss → More Ideas & Essays quotes →

Transcript

The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss
Speaker 3

that. Here's something I didn't think of. Could the decline in alcohol consumption actually be reflective of people sitting at home and not socializing outside? That

Speaker 1

and I love that. Do you know what I mean, though? I have no idea. But

Speaker 3

…companion is easier than interacting with your actual partner, if they're always supportive and saying the right things and they're not getting dysregulated and freaking out like all humans do, right? If kids find their customized LLM, a better parent, easier to deal with because it eliminates some of the messiness of unpredictable human interactions, you know, what are the consequences of that? The leisure time, I hope that's true. There have been so many technologies with that promise. The Industrial Revolution, we can go through a long list. And I have not yet seen it. I don't know anyone who's like, I used AI to free up a bunch of free time that I'm now using for kiteboarding and knitting. Well, they're like, I was doing two projects, but now I can do 10 projects.

Speaker 1

Something always fills the gap, right? Something's always going to fill the gap. And you have to be very selective about what's going to fill that gap. But I will say, for me, the daily grind of email and a lot of those other things. Now that I have these and it's going to be like, hey, Kevin, you…

Speaker 3

The woodworking. The woodworking comes up every nine months.

Speaker 1

You know, Japanese trainery is amazing. I know

Speaker names from our own diarization · position estimated from where the line sits in the episode

More from The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss

“There have been so many technologies with that promise. The Industrial Revolution, we can go through a long list. And I have not yet seen it. I don't know anyone who's like, I used AI to free up a bunch of free time that I'm now using for kiteboarding and knitting. They're like, I was doing two projects, but now I can do 10 projects.” — Tim Ferriss, The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss “What's happening right now with the AI enthusiasts is that if there's a new model that comes out, there's zero loyalty. It's like, oh, Claude's better, I'll go use Claude. Oh, ChatGPT is better. And people are jumping all over the place. This is finally becoming this durable storage of your life and your story and your history… And that is going to be, I think, something where they're going to kind of lock that down.” — Kevin Rose, The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss