Much of the discourse around AI centers on its ability to help us do more. AI promises to help us accomplish more, produce more, delegate more, explore more ideas, automate more tasks, and, generally, just bring more into the world.

But little, if any, is said on how AI might help us do less. This is, perhaps, unsurprising. As Byung-Chul Han notes in The Burnout Society, our culture is one characterized, first and foremost, by achievement. Ours is a culture of hyperactivity, one dominated by the unceasing exploration of what we can do rather than one of what we ought or ought not to do. We are burdened by a heavy too-much-ness, unable to create the space for boredom or contemplation, to make time to figure out what truly matters, unwilling to say “no” in our rush to accomplish.

Yet, we all know creativity requires space. It needs rest and openness and an opportunity to breathe. The best ideas are often birthed in moments of boredom. Han acknowledges this too, quoting Walter Benjamin, who once called boredom “a dream bird that hatches the egg of experience.”

So how can we expect AI to help us not just act creative, but truly be creative, if all we ever do with it is make more stuff? More images, more apps, more words. If all we ever do is use it to rehash and remix ideas that already exist, instead of using it to create the time and space we need to allow our own “dream birds” to hatch new eggs?

This isn’t not about simply delegating more tasks and drudgery away to smart agents. Those agents will soon return with information and responses and more things that will require additional attention or oversight. What I want is the opposite: fewer things that require my attention. More focus, and far less to delegate overall.

So here’s what I want from AI: Allow me to communicate what I truly value, what truly matters to me in work and life, and then help me say “no” to more things that don’t align with these values. Eliminate the noise from my multitude of inboxes. Triage incoming Slack messages by urgency and context. Automatically block time on my calendar for deep work and contemplation. Surface the blog posts and podcasts that will inspire me and discard the rest. Nudge me when you notice me wasting time on frivolities or pointless research rabbit holes. Act as a partner in helping me hone in on what I should or should not spend time really digging into.

Help me, dear AI, do these things—which really means doing fewer things—so I can live life more deeply and creatively.