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In theory, it seems that using AI should shorten the working time. However, on the other hand, AI software can suggest various ideas that would not be implemented without it. The topic is complex and the approach to the topic can be different.
So, do you work longer or shorter on your website thanks to different AI technologies?
Great question. I wouldn’t say I work more or less, but rather, I work differently. For instance, translating long texts is much easier now, and when I’m unsure about a term, I can ask the AI why using one word over another. This helps me write faster but also learn without needing to cross-reference multiple sources. Similarly, when I hit a technical issue with my websites, I can get step-by-step solutions with just a couple of clicks.
That’s a huge time-saver, but in my case, I don’t end up with free time. Instead, I use it in other work-related tasks, usually to improve the performance of my websites. So many people are using AI now that the worst thing I could do is slow down and fall behind.
no more no less :eyebrow:
Using AI reduced the time I spend on routine tasks, but overall... I actually work more now. Why? Because it unlocked new possibilities. I used to spend an hour on one article, now I can produce three, and still have time to analyze data, optimize structure, or test new traffic sources.
AI lowered the technical barrier and helped me execute ideas faster, but it also pushed me to redefine my role. I'm no longer just a writer. I build systems. And that requires even deeper involvement.
Using AI generally reduces the time for many tasks, although in some cases it can cost you time following rabbit holes. Like with any tech it only changes the way you work. AI is just another tool. Smart phones didn't make us work less, arguably they make us work more, they make some tasks quicker and easier opening up time to do other things instead.
I agree with the sentiment that it’s another tool, I’ve found it can save time with some research compared to googling and compiling stuff manually, so in that respect I suppose I work a little less.
Programming wise its amazing, but not perfect so debugging issues and learning to speak to AI is a new issue all together. Productivity wise its insane, but mentally takes more work if you hit an issue as I find that not writing the code makes it difficult to fix the code. For forms / layout ext it cant be beat. So to answer the question I work longer I think, but productivity is 4X.
Interesting read from everyone. AI is something we will be embarking on very soon at all levels.
I put in the same amount of time but I get more done. I just wrote some software and AI shortened the development time by months, by showing me ways to do things I didn't know about, writing some tricky algorithms, and finding bugs where I couldn't.
I posted several dozen posts from GPWA and AGD on ChatGPT about the time spent working on affiliate websites. I asked for a comment. In GPT's opinion, the hours given are exaggerated. He raised two issues.
1. The reported working time is much longer than the actual working time. This means that over 60% of working time is spent on non-work-related matters.
2. Extending working hours to emphasize the heroism of one's efforts.
As a result, GPT claims that2-3 hours a day of work on an existing website for over a year and 6-12 hours in the first year of the website's existence are sufficient.
It's just a curiosity.
Since my response in June I’ve used AI far more for various menial tasks, research and updates and now it’s an increasingly important part of how I work.
It’s not perfect though by any means and some stuff needs sense-checking and validating but it’s undoubtedly speeding up my work.
For me it’s great - for an employee in a multitude of jobs where AI can do the work they do in a tiny fraction of the time (and cost) I’d be very concerned about my job.
Same time, but i manage to do more. It helps me to find information faster and some thing with code.
I've become a pretty heavy user of ChatGPT, enough so that I pay a monthly fee rather than using the free version.
I would say that sometimes it saves me a lot of time, but sometimes I spend more time. Although when spending more time, I generally view the quality of the final result is better. When I spend more time it is usually because the process is producing interesting results, and so I invest more time.
Of course, sometimes the process has taken me down crazy paths. For example, yesterday I had it research an area, and then in the end found out the information presented was a completely fabricated example of what I might have found if I spent time researching using current live data. ChatGPT had outlined a research approach, and then showed the type of results that research result might produce. But it didn't actually do any research just showed what I might expect to find if I did the research.
Michael
**Edit because I didn't answer the question: I spend more time because I can do a lot more, more quickly. I find that I have time to add features I wouldn't have had time for previously.
I use AI a lot in my engineering work, and it can be both incredible and infuriating. Some models write great code; others send you in circles (looking at you, GPT-4.1). If you don’t stay actively involved, you’ll realize you’ve let an AI loop the same idea three times before you catch it.
----- Engineering Side (In case you want to skip) -----
A few examples of how useful it can be when you guide it:
I built a manufacturing app years ago, but a lot of logic lived directly in the Windows service.
Step 1: I asked an AI to refactor it into proper modules/classes—done in minutes instead of days.
Step 2: Then I had it build a GUI from my JSON structure—about 4 hours with debugging, something that would’ve taken me days.
Step 3: I asked it to convert my alerting system (email/SMS/etc.) into a plugin architecture. I had no idea where to start. AI did it in ~6 hours; that would’ve been a two-week grind for me.
Step 4: Added four new plugins the next day—AI time: 1 day. My time: probably 3 weeks.
----- Affiliate Side -----
I didn't want to pay for NiftyStats or StatsDrone (at the moment), so I built my own tools using Next.js, GitHub Copilot (Grok and GPT):
Step 1: Pulled data from 1 Affiliate Program using MyAffiliates via API—done in minutes.
Step 2: Generalized it so multiple MyAffiliates programs could be added through env vars—another 10 minutes.
Step 3: Built collectors for four proprietary programs—maybe 2–3 hours.
Step 4: Added a small web interface with a “collect now” button—also minutes.
Final Thoughts
AI is powerful, but only if you know what you're doing. If you try to use it on autopilot, it’ll lead you off a cliff. With the right guidance, though, it saves massive amounts of time.
I’m even using it to design my sites and generate backend scripts so I don’t need a web admin anymore. No more WordPress, no CMS—just clean code and direct database scripts.
-- Written by me and edited by ChatGPT ;) You can always tell because it likes to use a lot of these things: —
Isn't that the truth! I'm literally scraping the surface compared to what you've described there kwblue - inspiring stuff.Quote:
Originally Posted by kwblue
Keep working on it! You will only get better. Another example that I did this morning....Quote:
Originally Posted by golfbettingsystem
Game Screenshots:
I have a bunch of game screenshots that I have on my server. Those screenshots are png and range up to 5MB in size. That is really too big, IMO. So - I asked Mr. GPT-4.1 to write me a script to do the following:
1. Backup the images in case anything goes wrong
2. Use ImageMagick to convert the images to .avif with 80% quality when those images are > 500KB
3. Update my database so that it points to the new images (since the extension changed from png to avif)
4. restart my application (NextJS)
That took me about 10 minutes with asking for changes. This type of thing a long time ago took me hours and a program that I had to use to convert.
This quick script had the following message (this for just one game provider folder):
Converted 78 images. Total space saved: 124.26 MB
Backups stored in: /home/shared-assets/images/games/bgaming/imageBackups
If you know where to look - you can get AI to do a lot.
I wouldn't call myself a heavy user, but I do use AI regularly and I'm currently subscribed to both ChatGPT and Grok. That said, I've had to become much more careful lately.Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelCorfman
It amazes me that some people in this thread are getting exceptional results consistently. For me, even though in theory these tools can do more and more things, its quality has gone down. Sometimes I'm just doing very basic research or simply translating something, and the tool outright invents information or completely changes the meaning; something that happened to me much less often in the past.
At least for now, and I might change my opinion again just as the performance of these tools keeps changing, I am spending time that I would rather use somewhere else double-checking everything and repeating the instructions/prompts. I am still thinking that both ChatGPT and Grok have a lot of potential, but it gets overshadowed by silly mistakes.
I pay for chatgpt, I might switch to Gemini 3, though after the initial enthusiasm, now I am not so sure it's worth it. ChatGpt has the Projects option which is super cool, but overall the UX sucks. Gemini is great at UX, but doesn't have "Projects" so if you're a heavy user on Gemini, it will soon become a mess.
I tried Codex only once, but I prefer to program myself and just ask questions where I am not sure, or give the AI tasks that are repetitive and boring (while simple at their core). Vibe coding in general is really bad if you have any (vague) idea of how computers and code work.
I think I work now even more with AI, since it dramatically increases my productivity and I can do/try a lot more stuff.
Edit: I've been playing for a while with openrouter, which is an aggregator of models. Pretty sure there are many such sites out there. It's not free, you need to make a deposit (prepaid credits) and you will use any model via its API, which is quite expensive compared to a $20/month subscription. However, you can deposit a small amount of money and test out hundreds of models. So that's my second AI tool after chatgpt.
I am now using Claude.ai , I find the results so much better. Decided to even pay, seems worth it.
Claude is my preference, although I use it with Github CoPilot (which offers: GPT (all versions), Grok, Claude (all versions), and Gemini (all versions).Quote:
Originally Posted by Pokerface