Paul Welty, PhD AI, WORK, AND STAYING HUMAN

How Generative AI Changes Productivity

Discover how generative AI boosts productivity by reducing the costs of cognition and creativity, transforming the way we work and innovate.

“KARIM LAKHANI: Yeah, I would say the cost of cognition, the cost of creativity is going to massively decline with generative AI.”

(https://hbr.org/podcast/2023/05/how-generative-ai-changes-productivity)


Featured writing

Why customer tools are organized wrong

This article reveals a fundamental flaw in how customer support tools are designed—organizing by interaction type instead of by customer—and explains why this fragmentation wastes time and obscures the full picture you need to help users effectively.

Infrastructure shapes thought

The tools you build determine what kinds of thinking become possible. On infrastructure, friction, and building deliberately for thought rather than just throughput.

Server-Side Dashboard Architecture: Why Moving Data Fetching Off the Browser Changes Everything

How choosing server-side rendering solved security, CORS, and credential management problems I didn't know I had.

Books

The Work of Being (in progress)

A book on AI, judgment, and staying human at work.

The Practice of Work (in progress)

Practical essays on how work actually gets done.

Recent writing

Dev reflection - February 07, 2026

I've been thinking about friction. Not the dramatic kind—not the system crash, not the project that fails spectacularly. I mean the quiet kind. The accumulation of small things that don't quite wor...

Dev reflection - February 06, 2026

I want to talk about the difference between a system that works and a system that's ready. These aren't the same thing. The gap between them is where most projects stall out—not from failure, but f...

Dev reflection - February 05, 2026

I want to talk about something I keep running into: the moment when you realize the outside of something no longer matches the inside. And what that actually costs.

Notes and related thinking

The Impact of AI on White-Collar Work

Explore how AI is transforming white-collar jobs, reducing barriers to entry and reshaping the workforce landscape for professionals across industries.

The Future Focuses on Durable Skills

Explore how durable skills are vital for thriving in an automation-driven future and why they will outlast technical expertise.

Leading for Digital Culture Creation

Empower your organization by embracing digital culture; learn how effective leadership fosters intentional decision-making and nurtures innovation.