Notion AI: Why It’s Not Quite There Yet

Notion AI Promises a Lot—But Still Falls Short

I don’t need to tell you that AI tools are everywhere right now, and Notion AI is no exception. It launched with a wave of excitement: automatic summaries, instant content generation, and even supposed task management features baked into your Notion workflow.

But here’s the honest truth: Notion AI, like most, still isn’t delivering results that truly replace or accelerate meaningful work.

Don’t get me wrong, Notion AI has potential. It’s neatly integrated into your existing pages, and it can be helpful for surface-level tasks like summarising notes or rewriting copy. But when you move beyond those basics and try to use it for deeper decision making or system-level work, it starts to fall apart. Why? Because it still doesn’t actually understand your data, your priorities, or your context.

AI Still Can’t Think for You, and that’s the Core Problem

The biggest limitation? AI can’t make decisions for you. It might be able to suggest a next step, but it doesn’t know your deadlines, your strategy, your goals, or your energy levels. It can’t decide which task belongs on your to-do list today, and it certainly can’t structure your projects in a way that reflects how you work.

A lot of people think, “I’ll ask Notion AI to help manage my work,” but they quickly find themselves back in manual mode. You still have to know what you’re trying to do, define your outcomes, and build the system to support them.

In practice, AI becomes another layer you have to manage, rather than one that helps manage things for you. What’s more, Notion AI can’t even create tasks and assign them to your databases unless you do a lot of hand-holding. This really is what I want AI to do for me, it seems so close, but, for now, the cognitive heavy lifting is still all on you.

Notion AI Took Too Long to Get Here, and It’s Still Playing Catch-Up

It’s worth pointing out that Notion AI stayed in beta for a very long time, and it still feels like it’s catching up. While other platforms like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Claude have pushed forward rapidly, Notion’s AI is still mostly limited to summarising, rewriting, and light content assistance. It doesn’t yet “understand” your workspace in a way that feels intelligent or proactive.

You can’t, for example, say “Review all tasks overdue by more than 5 days and generate a priority list.” Even when you try to prompt it within a filtered view, Notion AI only ever reads a sample of entries, not the full database. That makes it essentially useless for larger task databases.

I’ve asked Notion AI countless times with countless prompts to read my last months morning pages and give me the trends. It never gets there, instead giving up, reading random other pages and coming up with the usual generic dross.

If you’re working in a serious Notion setup, this limitation becomes obvious very quickly.

You Still Need to Be Incredibly Specific With Prompts

For AI to work well, it needs clear instructions. And right now, Notion AI is no different from any other large language model in that it depends heavily on prompt quality. You need to be specific, not just in what you’re asking, but also in what context the AI should understand.

Want it to summarise a client meeting? Great, but you’ll need to isolate that note. Want it to generate action items from your project database? It’ll try, but only based on a handful of visible entries, and often with generic, duplicate suggestions. (see above)

This turns what’s supposed to be a helpful assistant into another interface you need to babysit. In theory, you’re saving time. In reality, you’re often rewording your prompts, double-checking results, and doing manual corrections. It feels like you’re managing the AI instead of the AI managing anything for you.

Final Thoughts: Useful, But Not Yet “Game-Changing”

At the end of the day, Notion AI is a nice add-on, but it’s not a game-changer.

If you’re hoping for a tool that can think like you, make decisions, and run your day, this isn’t it. Not yet.

That’s not to say it’s useless. It can help draft rough content, clean up writing, or offer quick summaries. But for serious Notion users, those who build out custom dashboards, manage multiple projects, or run a business operating system inside Notion, it’s more novelty than necessity.

My advice? Use it where it’s helpful, ignore the hype, and don’t expect it to replace your brain anytime soon.