The message from experts is clear: artificial intelligence (AI) can help professionals spend less time on repetitive, time-consuming tasks and more on value-adding activities.

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However, there's just one issue: what are these value-adding activities? Senior executives may like the sound of highly paid staff spending less time on mundane activities, but only if these professionals use their saved time effectively.

So, how can you make the most of the time you save by using AI? Five experts share their top tips.

1. Drive operational changes

Gabriela Vogel, vice president analyst in Gartner's Executive Leadership of Digital Business practice, said it's crucial to consider how professionals will use spare time in an age of AI -- and it's an area she's researching right now.

"Many professionals think they're implementing a benefit: 'I summarize using Gen AI,' and so they gain time, which is great. They'll think, 'I can do something with that time. I can grab a coffee,'" she said.

"However, that approach doesn't generate value for the business. It doesn't hit the top and bottom lines."

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Vogel told that professionals who want to create benefits from time savings created by AI must drive operational changes.

"That change must be on a large scale. So, they'll have to optimize something, create a new product, or go even further and adjust the business model," she said.

"If you want to get value from AI, implementing the technology is just one element. The crucial parts are the operational changes or business model transformations you need to make to create a return in the future."

2. Reinvent yourself or your department

Adobe CIO Cindy Stoddard said professionals who see their work role being completed by AI should find ways to reinvent themselves.

She gave the example of her firm's application of AI and robotic process automation that has led, in some cases, to the removal of as much as 95% of a person's role. Those affected have moved into new areas.

"They're still with the company, but doing something different," she said. "Some people have even looked at where they are in that space, and they've reinvented the whole department to be different organizations."

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Stoddard told how Adobe's Employee Experience Group ensures new IT services meet business user requirements and assesses how new AI systems might affect people's roles.

"It's about how we look at the next generation. You can't stand still. Adobe is 40-plus years old. And look at how we've evolved over those years," she said.

"People within the company always consider questions like, 'Hey, how do I reinvent my role or department?' And my mindset is that if you do that work right, the next great thing will come. So, I would encourage people to reinvent themselves and reinvent their departments."

3. Focus on the things you enjoy

LinkedIn chief product officer Tomer Cohen encouraged professionals to use the productivity boosts offered by AI to think strategically about how they use their time at work.

"Go back to the idea of, 'Why did I even choose this job?'" he said, before giving an example. "If you chose marketing, you wanted to grow the company through great initiatives, strategy, and creativity. Go back to that focus instead of the day-to-day activities that fill your time."

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Cohen gave another example, suggesting that professionals who build digital solutions to business challenges want to spend time on ideation and finding out what customers require.

He said generative AI allows workers to spend more time on the things they enjoy that are more likely to create value for their employers.

"I often hear people say, 'I don't have enough time.' This technology allows you to do more, but it also allows you to do the things that are unique to you, the strategic, the human-centric stuff that makes you more valuable than the incremental and mundane tasks you need to do to get from point A to B."

4. Unlock new opportunities

Joe Depa, chief innovation officer at consultant EY, said his firm's staff use AI to reduce the regulatory burden and increase their focus on new business areas.

"Tax data has to be high quality and compliant with local rules and regulations," he said. "One of the things we can do with tax data is use agentic AI to help manage data compliance tasks at a speed that couldn't be completed before."

Depa told that using AI to cut the regulatory burden means tax professionals can concentrate on higher-value, more strategic work. He gave an example.

"In some cases, what we're doing now is helping our clients look at the data, not just for tax and compliance purposes, but for how they can simulate and model different scenarios," he said.

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"For example, tariffs are a big topic of discussion right now. So, can I use my tax data to help simulate what would happen if tariffs were applied in certain countries, and what would be the impact, not only on tax and compliance, but also on my supply chain, workforce, and demand patterns that will alter due to global macroeconomic and geopolitical changes?"

Depa encouraged other professionals to look for ways that AI can help unlock new opportunities in fresh areas.

"Look at your job differently and understand how repetitive tasks can be managed by AI to free up time so you can focus on strategic tasks. I think that capability will be critical as we think about agentic AI in the future."

5. Learn some new skills

Caroline Carruthers, CEO at data consultancy Carruthers and Jackson, said professionals should use the time they save by applying AI to boost their well-being.

"Focus on the important stuff, such as family, friends, and yourself," she said. "A little bit of selfishness is not a bad thing. It's the whole lifesaver analogy. You've got to take care of yourself before you can care for other people."

Carruthers told she loves the idea of AI giving people more time, and she hopes people will use this opportunity to boost their productivity.

"I hope they're learning a new skill, being creative, and doing all the wonderful things that human beings are capable of."

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Carruthers' team is already using AI in its work processes, such as helping to produce the firm's latest report, its Data Maturity Index.

"We did it for the first pass, and we openly acknowledge that at the end of the report. We talk about how this is how we think AI should be used. I wanted to make the point that we use it in our business," she said, before explaining how the consultancy uses AI in other areas and where they draw the line.

"We use AI for the simplest things, like tracking meeting notes and summarizing issues for clients. However, no one in my organization would touch AI to help make decisions."

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