I used to roll my eyes a little at the "AI will free up your time" pitch

At a conference with major enterprise companies, the author reflects on AI's real value at work: not replacing jobs, but automating low-value administrative tasks like IT tickets, HR requests, and approvals. A live demo shows an AI agent handling a request end-to-end in seconds, with full auditability of each agent action, keeping humans in control while AI handles the operational noise.