Risk & Safety · Tool
The Verification Tax Calculator
Track whether your AI pilot is genuinely saving time - or just shifting where the effort goes.
Net Value = Time Before AI − Time With AI − Verification Time
If this number is negative, you are paying more than you are gaining.
A 1:1 time swap is actually a loss. Reading AI output to hunt for subtle errors takes more intense focus than writing a rough draft from scratch. If verification time equals the drafting time you saved, you have not broken even - you have exhausted your team. Verification must be significantly lower than the time saved.
Your team
Tasks
Measure the full manual cycle. "Before" should include the checking and revisions you used to do as you went - not just typing. Use a stopwatch.
| Task | Before min |
With AI min |
Verify min |
Per wk | Net | Ratio | Mo. hrs | Remove |
|---|
Enter the before, with-AI and verification times for a real task.
Four ways to reduce the verification tax
- Week 4 deadline: Scale, Kill, or Pivot. No "continue piloting".
- Ratio above 50%: you are exhausting the team. Refine prompts or choose a simpler task.
- Flat after Week 4: the tool is structurally wrong for this task. Archive it.
If your pilot's verdict isn't where you want it, cutting the verification tax is exactly what we do with teams - diagnose the real tasks, prove what works, hand it over.
Part of The Complete AI Toolkit · from The AI Pilot Handbook by Alastair McDermott.