[jjk166]

"This may help in unexpected and unforeseeable ways" doesn't sound like the most convincing argument for taking time from your job to learn a new skill.

All the same, you are choosing to learn something new, not to automate something to save time. Learning something new by automating a task which doesn't justify automation is no different from say reading a book or doing coding exercises in the same time - it's potentially a good use of your time, it just doesn't relate to the xkcd chart at all.