{"id":18949,"date":"2025-08-24T19:26:50","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T17:26:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lecercle.ai\/blog\/newsletter-cercle-ia-03\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T11:14:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T09:14:07","slug":"newsletter-cercle-ia-03","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lecercle.ai\/en\/blog\/newsletter-cercle-ia-03\/","title":{"rendered":"AI won&#8217;t save you time"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"18949\" class=\"elementor elementor-18949 elementor-18889\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-48883c8e e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"48883c8e\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;ekit_has_onepagescroll_dot&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1767eca1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"1767eca1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;ekit_we_effect_on&quot;:&quot;none&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2><strong>#03. Why the obsession with &#8220;time saving&#8221; and automation makes you lose your compass<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;Save 10 hours a week with AI.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a seductive promise. We&#8217;ve all heard it, dozens of times. <\/p>\n<p>And yet it&#8217;s not only misleading, it&#8217;s counterproductive.<\/p>\n<p>Because in reality, AI isn&#8217;t going to save you any time (yet).<\/p>\n<p>It asks you to invest. To think differently. To rethink your methods, your tools, your processes.  <\/p>\n<p>And so much the better.<\/p>\n<p>Professionals who really take advantage of AI are not looking to go faster.<\/p>\n<p>They&#8217;re looking to go further.<\/p>\n<p>In this issue, I&#8217;d like to take a look at three preconceived ideas that may be holding you back in AI:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Myth #1<\/strong>: You&#8217;ll earn X number of hours in the first week (you always have to invest before you earn).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Myth #2<\/strong>: AI will automate your repetitive tasks (spoiler: they don&#8217;t exist)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Myth #3<\/strong>: Faster = better (the crucial difference between efficiency and effectiveness)<\/li>\n<li><strong>The tool to test<\/strong>: NotebookLM, the AI assistant specialized in understanding and synthesizing your own content.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Myth #1: &#8220;You&#8217;ll earn X hours in the first week&#8221;.<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3><strong>The hidden equation of time<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>September 2025. Parisian consulting firm. This AI tool saves 5 hours a week on market research.&#8221;  <\/p>\n<p><strong>3 months later :<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Team <b> training <\/b>: 15 hours<\/p>\n<p>Data cleaning: 18 hours&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Error correction: 15 hours<\/p>\n<p>Systems integration: 10 hours<\/p>\n<p>Process adjustments: 12 hours<\/p>\n<p>TOTAL INVESTMENT: 70 hours<\/p>\n<p>To &#8220;recover&#8221; these 70 hours at 5h\/week&#8230; <strong>you&#8217;d need 14 &#8220;perfect&#8221; weeks.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>No bugs. No learning. No adaptation.  <\/p>\n<h3><strong>The realistic formula<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Time &#8220;saved&#8221; = Initial task time &#8211; (Learning time + Prompt time + Correction time + Monitoring time + Maintenance time)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The vendors of AI solutions and tools only show you the first term: &#8220;Initial task time&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Yet very often, this equation is negative for the first 6 months.<\/p>\n<p><strong>And that&#8217;s normal.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The problem isn&#8217;t investment. It&#8217;s hiding it behind unrealistic promises. <\/p>\n<p><strong>The catch?<\/strong>&nbsp;We want to believe in the mirage because it responds to our frustration: the feeling of running out of time and the fear of wasting more of it.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Myth #2: &#8220;AI will automate your repetitive tasks&#8221;.<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3><strong>Or why repetitive tasks are like unicorns<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Since the arrival of ChatGPT, an obsession has taken hold: identifying repetitive tasks and entrusting them to AI.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lecercle.ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image1.png\" alt=\"Search for repetitive tasks\"><\/figure>\n<p>Google Trends data, a free tool that shows the evolution of Internet users&#8217; interest in a word or expression in the Google search engine.<\/p>\n<p>This graph illustrates that the automation of repetitive tasks was a niche topic before 2022, but with the arrival of ChatGPT and the generative AI wave, interest has exploded on a global scale.<\/p>\n<p>In reality, repetitive tasks are popular on the Internet, but hard to find in everyday life.<\/p>\n<p>The sudden popularity of automation advocated by AI vendors disguises a problem: most of these tasks are not repetitive at all.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s take a seemingly trivial example: writing a reminder email.<\/p>\n<p>Repetitive? On the face of it, yes. <\/p>\n<p>Now answer:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Same tone for a difficult new customer or a loyal customer?<\/li>\n<li>Same approach for \u20ac500 and \u20ac50,000?<\/li>\n<li>Same style for a start-up and an institution?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you answered &#8220;no&#8221; only once, your task is not repetitive. It is <strong>contextual<\/strong>. <\/p>\n<p>In practice, each relaunch depends on multiple variables:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The tone<\/strong>: formal, friendly, insistent?<\/li>\n<li><strong>The context<\/strong>: first message or fifth attempt?<\/li>\n<li><strong>History<\/strong>: what exchanges have already taken place?<\/li>\n<li><strong>The issue<\/strong>: administrative slowness or risk of insolvency?<\/li>\n<li><strong>The personality of the recipient<\/strong>: how does he or she communicate?<\/li>\n<li><strong>Timing<\/strong>: emergency or simple follow-up?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Yes, AI can write the email.<\/p>\n<p>But who&#8217;s going to give her the right instructions? Who&#8217;s going to make sure she sticks to the tone? Who will adjust it?  &nbsp;You.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>The grain of sand in automation: recurring \u2260 repetitive<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Recurring: <\/strong>A <strong>recurring<\/strong> task comes up often. You often repeat the same action (writing emails, analyzing contracts, preparing presentations).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Repetitive:<\/strong> A <strong>repetitive<\/strong> task is the same every time. You repeat exactly the same action, in the same context, with the same parameters. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What&#8217;s the difference? Context. <\/p>\n<p>And context is 80% of intellectual work.<\/p>\n<p>What we call repetitive actually <strong>varies according to context<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>And yet, context is precisely what AI struggles to grasp on its own, and why humans remain the determining factor.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Myth #3: &#8220;Faster = better<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong>Reminder: <\/strong><strong>&#8220;Speed doesn&#8217;t matter if you&#8217;re going in the wrong direction.&#8221; (Gandhi)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>AI is a formidable gas pedal. It enables us to produce faster, generate more ideas and respond more quickly. <\/p>\n<p>But just because AI makes it possible to go fast doesn&#8217;t mean we should lose sight of the right objective.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Effectiveness<\/strong><\/em> <em><strong>vs<\/strong><\/em><strong>. <\/strong><em><strong>efficiency<\/strong><\/em><strong> the nuance that changes everything<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In French, both are often translated as &#8220;efficiency&#8221;, but this is a mistake.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the fundamental difference:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Efficiency (<\/strong><em><strong>efficiency<\/strong><\/em><strong>) = doing things <\/strong><strong>well<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Definition:<\/strong> Initially, the word &#8220;efficient&#8221; was mainly used in philosophy to designate an &#8220;efficient cause&#8221;, i.e. one that produces an effect. Since the 1950s, under the influence of the English word &#8221; <em>efficient&#8221;<\/em>, its use has spread into everyday language, mainly in management, to designate that which produces an effect with a minimum of resources, without wasting time or effort (in other words, that which is &#8220;effective&#8221; but optimized). <\/li>\n<li><strong>Question:<\/strong> &#8220;How can I do this job faster\/cheaper?&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Focus:<\/strong> Method, speed, optimization of resources<\/li>\n<li><strong>Measurement:<\/strong> Time saved, costs reduced, processes accelerated<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Effectiveness<\/strong><em><strong>effectiveness<\/strong><\/em><strong>) = Doing the <\/strong><strong>right<\/strong><strong> things<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Definition: &#8220;<\/strong>One who produces the expected effect; one who succeeds in reaching the set goal or fulfilling his task&#8221;. Here, we&#8217;re talking about achieving the set objective, no matter how many resources (time, money, effort) are involved. We are efficient when we do the right things and achieve the expected result;  <\/li>\n<li><strong>Question:<\/strong> &#8220;Am I doing what it takes to reach my goal?&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Focus:<\/strong> Results, impact, relevance of action<\/li>\n<li><strong>Measurement:<\/strong> Objectives achieved, results obtained, value created<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Why this nuance is crucial in the field of AI<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Efficiency with AI<\/strong>:<br>&#8220;ChatGPT helps me write my LinkedIn posts five times faster.&#8221;<br>\u2192 Result: 20 mediocre posts that reach no one.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Effectiveness with AI<\/strong>:<br>&#8220;AI helps me understand why my posts aren&#8217;t engaging.&#8221;<br>\u2192 Result: 3 targeted posts that generate conversations and leads.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The efficiency trap:<\/strong> AI makes us very efficient: we produce faster, we automate, we optimize. But we can become super-efficient&#8230; doing the wrong things. <\/p>\n<p><strong>The power of efficiency:<\/strong> AI can also help us to identify what really works, to focus on high-impact actions.<\/p>\n<p>To be effective is to reach the goal, to be efficient is to reach the goal with the least effort and resources.<\/p>\n<p>As management guru Peter Drucker said, <strong>&#8220;There&#8217;s nothing more pointless than doing efficiently what shouldn&#8217;t be done at all.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>3 principles to follow<\/h3>\n<ol start=\"1\">\n<li><strong>Look for effectiveness before efficiency<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Ask yourself, &#8220;Is this task worth optimizing?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Tip: Use AI to identify what&#8217;s going wrong. Then look for ways to improve. <\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><strong>Invest in understanding before optimization<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Learn where AI excels (and where it fails).<\/p>\n<p>Develop your intuition before looking for speed<\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><strong>Measure the value created, not the time &#8220;saved<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Focus on the impact of your actions<\/p>\n<p>Prefer 1 well-used hour to 3 &#8220;optimized&#8221; hours<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Concrete examples<\/strong><strong>\u00e8<\/strong><strong>ts<\/strong><\/h3>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"1\" rowspan=\"1\">\n<p><strong>The wrong approach<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td colspan=\"1\" rowspan=\"1\">\n<p><strong>The right approach<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"1\" rowspan=\"1\">\n<p>&#8220;How can I write my reports faster?&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td colspan=\"1\" rowspan=\"1\">\n<p>&#8220;How to identify key information?&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"1\" rowspan=\"1\">\n<p>&#8220;How can I automate my emails?&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td colspan=\"1\" rowspan=\"1\">\n<p>&#8220;How can I better understand my customers?&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"1\" rowspan=\"1\">\n<p>&#8220;How to produce more content?&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td colspan=\"1\" rowspan=\"1\">\n<p>&#8220;How do you create content that resonates?&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>It&#8217;s better to be slow to do the right thing than quick to do anything at all.<\/p>\n<p>So let&#8217;s use AI less for efficiency (doing things faster) and use it more for effectiveness (doing things that really matter).<\/p>\n<h2>NotebookLM: The AI assistant that all consulting professionals and knowledge workers urgently need to try out<\/h2>\n<p><strong>NotebookLM<\/strong> is an AI assistant from Google that summarizes, analyzes and organizes your documents, relying solely on your sources to give more reliable answers.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike AIs like ChatGPT, NotebookLM doesn&#8217;t rely on all the data found on the Internet (or in the AI&#8217;s training data), but only on the documents, notes, videos, PDFs, web links, audios, images or Google Docs you provide.<\/p>\n<p>NotebookLM requires an initial investment (organizing your sources, structuring your documents) to offer you real added value: in-depth understanding of your content.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The main advantages of NotebookLM :  <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Multiply your sources and amplify your knowledge:<\/strong> NotebookLM accepts an impressive variety of formats &#8211; PDFs, Google Docs, websites, YouTube videos, audio files (MP3\/WAV), and Google Slides files. With up to 300 sources per notebook and a context of 25 million words, the tool can process huge volumes of information. <\/li>\n<li><strong>Precise quotations <\/strong>: Each answer includes direct quotations with links to the exact passages in your source documents, greatly reducing the risk of AI hallucination.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Confidentiality: <\/strong>Uploaded documents remain private, are not used for model training, and data management ensures traceability and security.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Synthesis and writing: <\/strong>Generate Q&amp;A sheets, outlines, structured summaries, audio podcasts from your documents, etc. All directly linked to your document database and exportable. <\/li>\n<li><strong>Audio and Video Overviews <\/strong>: NotebookLM is attracting a lot of attention for its ability to transform your documents into podcast-style audio discussions between two AI hosts of 5 to 30 minutes offering an engaging synthesis of your content (audio overviews), or into a presentation combining audio narration and visual presentation (video overviews).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Collaboration made easy:<\/strong> NotebookLM lets you work with several people, sharing project folders with quotes, annotations and version tracking, ideal for professional or advanced academic use.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Resource: <em>The World Ahead 2025<\/em> (The Economist &amp; NotebookLM)<\/h2>\n<p>Every year, <em>The Economist<\/em> publishes <strong>The World Ahead<\/strong>, its forward-looking report on the year ahead. The 2025 edition tackles 10 major trends: the return of Trump and his geopolitical repercussions, protectionist escalation, the cleantech boom, global aging&#8230; and the moment of truth for AI with over $1,000 billion invested in data centers. <\/p>\n<figure style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lecercle.ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image2.png\" alt=\"The Economist - The World Ahead - NotebookLM\"><\/figure>\n<p>New: this edition is available as a <strong>Featured Notebook in NotebookLM<\/strong> (a first IA collaboration for <em>The Economist<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p>With this format, you can :<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Read the original articles,<\/li>\n<li>Ask your questions in chat and get informed answers,<\/li>\n<li>Explore major themes using Mind Maps,<\/li>\n<li>Or listen to Audio Overviews to quickly grasp the key points.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Explore the resource : <a href=\"https:\/\/notebooklm.google.com\/notebook\/5881d15d-7b82-4002-8613-df59b6eece4c%20ressource\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>Featured Notebook The Economist &#8211; The World Ahead in 2025<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Other Featured Notebooks to discover:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/notebooklm.google.com\/notebook\/505ee4b1-ad05-4673-a06b-1ec106c2b940?authuser=1\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>Tips for parents in the digital age:<\/b><\/a> Professor and psychologist Jacqueline Nesi offers scientific advice to help you manage the challenges of screen time, sleep and more <b>(21 sources).<\/b><span style=\"background-color: transparent;\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><b><b><a href=\"https:\/\/notebooklm.google.com\/notebook\/750a23df-fd98-4954-b9c4-71f16c3ee937?authuser=1\" style=\"\" rel=\"noopener\">The Atlantic &#8211; How to Build a Life<\/a>:<\/b> <\/b>Arthur C. Brooks, best-selling author and columnist for The Atlantic, shows you how the latest scientific studies and the work of classic philosophers can help you lead a happier, more fulfilled life<b> (46 sources)<\/b>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><span style=\"background-color: transparent;\"><b><a href=\"https:\/\/notebooklm.google.com\/notebook\/e4ddc6f8-ada2-4aaa-b9dc-c3ff7c325bf8?authuser=1\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>1st quarter earnings reports for the 50 largest companies :<\/b><\/a> <\/b>Examine the state of the global economy with this collection of Q1 2025 earnings reports for the world&#8217;s largest public companies (91 sources).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><span style=\"background-color: transparent;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/notebooklm.google.com\/notebook\/19bde485-a9c1-4809-8884-e872b2b67b44?authuser=1\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>William Shakespeare &#8211; the complete plays :<\/b><\/a> Explore the complete text of Shakespeare&#8217;s plays in this notebook designed for students, scholars and theater enthusiasts <b>(45 sources).<\/b><\/span><\/p><\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>#03. Why the obsession with &#8220;time saving&#8221; and automation makes you lose your compass &#8220;Save 10 hours a week with AI.&#8221; It&#8217;s a seductive promise. We&#8217;ve all heard it, dozens of times. And yet it&#8217;s not only misleading, it&#8217;s counterproductive. Because in reality, AI isn&#8217;t going to save you any time (yet). It asks you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18899,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsletter-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lecercle.ai\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lecercle.ai\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lecercle.ai\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lecercle.ai\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lecercle.ai\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18949"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lecercle.ai\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18951,"href":"https:\/\/lecercle.ai\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18949\/revisions\/18951"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lecercle.ai\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lecercle.ai\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lecercle.ai\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lecercle.ai\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}