While tomato farming is not the sector where we expect AI to take over at scale, the experiment highlights how broad AI’s theoretical reach has become. Today, AI can automate financial reporting, assist with engineering challenges, streamline administrative tasks or even provide guidance on legal documents.
However, the list of tasks AI cannot cover – even in theory – remains extensive. Lacking a physical body, AI cannot perform manual labour such as installation, repairs, construction or transportation. Any activities that require physical interaction with the environment remain out of scope for current AI systems. And even in desk‑based roles, recent research shows that AI often intensifies work instead of reducing it.
The limits also appear in creative work. Despite a surge in AI‑generated music and literature, large language models (LLMs) do not create original concepts; they recombine existing patterns. While they can generate sonnets in a Shakespearean style, they cannot invent new literary forms. Even when the quality is comparable to human writing, it lacks the originality that comes from human creativity.
