A study by UCLA, Stanford, and USC researchers found people using AI tools like ChatGPT gained personal productivity at home.
She assigns her tedious tasks to Anthropic's AI tool, including evaluating health insurance plans and locating new doctors. By offloading the menial stuff to an artificial-intelligence, she says she has freed up time she wouldn't otherwise have, time she now spends taking guitar and singing lessons.
Claude even helped her develop a nightly wind-down routine, improving her quality of sleep.
People really do see productivity gains at home by using AI, according to a new study by a trio from the University of California, Los Angeles; Stanford University, and the University of Southern California. Researchers analyzed the internet browsing data of thousands of households between 2021 and 2024 and found that those who used ChatGPT ended up with extra time for gaming, social media, and video streaming.
"It would be nice if ChatGPT let us get things done faster and we'd all frolic in meadows," says Gregor Schubert, an assistant finance professor at UCLA and one of the study's authors.
There is evidence that people are using AI to free up time, not just for screen fun, but real-life activities. Coravos, for one, says she's actually scrolling less now.
She had been working out with a trainer and thought she was eating well, but a recent bone-density scan revealed her muscle mass was lower than she expected.
After her partner, John Weldon, suggested she probably wasn't eating enough protein, the 38-year-old used Claude to figure out how much and which type of protein to consume. Claude also calculated the maximum number of reps she should be doing in the gym and suggested other exercises, which she shared with her trainer. She says her workouts have become shorter and more efficient as a result.
"It's less about whether I've gotten back one more hour here and there," says the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based strategic adviser who previously sold a digital-health startup. Her measurement of genuine time saving: "Am I spending time in a way that makes me feel more alive?"
Loewen Cavill, 28 years old, says she and her boyfriend used to wonder which partner pulled more weight around the house, so they used AI to start tracking the domestic labor.
Cavill co-founded a company that uses a wristband to predict women's hot flashes paired with a cooling mattress pad so she knows a thing or two about sensors.
She bought some motion sensors from Temu and Alibaba integrated them using Claude Code and attached them to her appliances. She receives notifications from the Telegram app when the dishes or laundry are done. She also uses Claude Code to submit grocery orders. And she created a scorecard on Slack to keep track of the chores.
"This home automation has improved our relationship," says Cavill who lives in San Francisco. "There's more visibility into who does what, and the work has decreased."
She discovered that her boyfriend did more dishes -- but she took out the trash more often and did more cleaning. "Now we're splitting things 50/50."
Jessica Cole and her family hold weekly Zoom calls where they share new ways AI can help them. "I come from a family of tinkerers," says the 36-year-old who lives in New York.
She says her brother is using AI to help plan his wedding and search for a house. Cole and her father were each starting jobs in new industries recently and used Claude Code to gather relevant podcasts and other information to get up to speed.
Cole, who works for an air-quality nonprofit, also used AI to compare medical-insurance options, which she says saved many hours. And she's been using Claude Code to create a running coach that recommends exercises to prevent injuries and improve her runs. She says she hit her fastest mile this year because of it.
Helena Merk and Aly Hudson use AirClaw, a version of the OpenClaw AI assistant, to place Instacart orders. "I'll say, 'Can you order more tofu?' and it arrives by the time I get back from my bike ride, so it gives me more time for my bike ride," says Merk, a 27-year-old startup founder in San Francisco.
Hudson, 28, who works at a venture-capital firm, had her AI agent look at reviews of hair salons and book an appointment for her.
"It feels a bit dystopian to have AIs run your life," Merk says, "but right now it's really fun to experiment with."
The couple recently had their AI agents email each other to coordinate their calendars for a date night. The agents booked them a trapeze class for early April.