# Template-Presence Is the Diagnostic of Automatability ## Claim A task's exposure to AI automation is determined by whether it follows a reusable template, so the presence of a template is the single best diagnostic for what a machine will eventually do without you. <!-- atomicity: 1 idea ✓ --> ## Evidence **Source**: [The One Uncomfortable Truth About AI (Christopher Penn)](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kvkr1y5zxm713ck3p1qaznf4) > [!quote] > "if you do it with a template today, a machine does it without you tomorrow." Penn's claim (which he's made since 2015): AI works *because* it pattern-matches templates, so anything templated is on the automation path and the only durable human work is the part with no possible template. It's a sharper, more actionable version of "AI does rote work" — it gives a concrete test you can run on your own day: where is the template? ## Scope & conditions - Holds as a *directional diagnostic*, not a guarantee — template-presence predicts exposure, but execution quality, trust, and accountability can keep a templated task partly human for a while. - Borders on tautology ("the non-automatable work is the work that can't be automated"), so its value is operational (find the templates) rather than predictive of exact timing. ## Links - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Zet · Boilerplate automation accelerates FSE theme setup]] — evidence-for: repeated theme namespacing and scaffolding have a stable template, making setup an automation-ready task - [[Abstracting Drudgery Re-Opens Creative Work to Non-Specialists]] — extends — templated drudgery is exactly what AI abstracts away, re-opening the non-templated creative layer - [[The Bottleneck Moved From Code Generation to Review and Judgment]] — applies-in — code generation is highly templated (automatable); review/judgment is the non-templated remainder - [[AI & the Future of Knowledge Work MOC]] — applies-in — a practical filter for which knowledge work survives automation ## Implications - For DevRel/career planning: audit your week for templates; move deliberately toward the non-templated (judgment, taste, relationships, novel problems). - Open question: AI is starting to *generate* templates for previously un-templated work — does the frontier of "no possible template" keep shrinking faster than people can move to it?