When AI Gives Back Time, Ideas Misbehave

When AI Gives Creatives Back Their Hours

"The beauty of free time is that it lets ideas misbehave. And when ideas misbehave, magic happens." That's the point: less grind, more serendipity. Fewer dashboards, more sketchbooks. The question is what you do with the space you win back.

We asked leaders across business, film, law, fashion and comedy: If AI truly gave you extra hours, how would you spend them?

What they said

Harsh Goenka, Chairman, RPG Group

Trade meetings for meaning. Use AI to clear the repetitive, then spend those hours with young leaders, building integrity, creativity and empathy. Make room for arts, literature and reflection - the parts of work and life that make you more human.

Prasoon Joshi, Poet, songwriter, CEO & CCO, McCann Worldgroup India

Free time is "malleable clay." Let hours be messy, curious and sometimes lazy. That's where a scribble becomes a logo, a shower thought turns into a screenplay, and an aimless walk becomes a song. The goal isn't tighter schedules - it's a freer mind.

Rajan Anandan, MD, Peak XV & Surge

Research compresses from hours to minutes with tools like Gemini and ChatGPT. The twist: the time saved goes back into learning even more about AI - books, reports, podcasts and videos - and even making fun videos on the side.

Shakun Batra, Movie director

AI's core value isn't time-saving; it's possibility. It lowers the risk to experiment and asks a deeper question: once busywork shrinks, what do you want to feel connected to? Maybe the win isn't doing more - it's being more present.

Arnab Banerjee, MD, CEAT Tyres

Copilot tightens emails, turns board decks into Ghibli-style visuals and distills monthly reports in seconds. With more open space, strategy appears faster too. The real challenge becomes: how do you repurpose yourself when the machine clears your calendar?

Devaiah Bopanna, Co-founder, Moonshot

Use AI as a draft, then humanize it. Some days that takes more time than starting from scratch, but the outputs keep improving. The dream: prompt in a brief, get a sellable script, then - of course - take on more work and complain about free time again.

Rishabh Shroff, Partner, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas

For lawyers, time is currency. If AI handles admin, research, drafting and diligence, ROTI skyrockets. That unlocks higher-margin work: judgment, strategy and client advice - plus personal time for books, case studies and obsessions.

Tarun Mehta, CEO, Ather Energy

Shorter reviews. Cleaner data. Home on time for Counter-Strike or Catan. That's a healthy KPI.

Kunal Bahl, Co-founder, Snapdeal

AI creates space for imagination and long-term building by handling the repetitive. The best return: presence with family. Long walks, new cities, fewer distractions.

Sumukhi Suresh, Comedian, actor, writer

Procrastination is part of the process - until a deadline shows up. What helps? An AI "class monitor" that locks focus, blocks rabbit holes and nudges delivery. Then you earn the real prize: time to daydream and hit open mics.

Rahul Mishra, Fashion designer

Swap screen time for soil time. Grow vegetables and forgotten grains. In the kitchen, slow-made mithai with jaggery and ghee. Like fashion, both reward patience, detail and joy - maybe even a future "Mishra Misthan Bhandar."

Ghazal Alagh, Co-founder, Mamaearth

Return to painting. Protect deep, device-free hours. And show up fully for family.

Make the time count: a simple playbook for creatives

• Choose one repetitive task per week to automate (summaries, first drafts, inbox triage). Track minutes saved and reinvest them into concept work.
• Set a 90-minute "Idea Lab" block. No delivery goals. Sketch, storyboard, riff. Quantity first, quality second.
• Use an AI "focus copilot": block sites, queue reminders, and structure sprints so procrastination serves the work, not kills it.
• Keep an analog hour. Read, walk, journal. Most breakthroughs show up off-screen.
• Skill up with intent. If you want AI to buy your time back, learn prompts, workflows and tools that match your role. Try this curated list of AI courses by job here.
• Anchor your experiments in outcomes. Evidence shows generative AI can boost knowledge-worker productivity; see this study from MIT/NBER here.

Free time isn't a luxury; it's the spark. Automate the dull, protect the weird, and let your ideas misbehave.