Artificial intelligence is the new co -worker in many companies but, far from raising productivity, it is undermining it in most cases. This is warned of a new study led by Stanford University and Betterup Labs, which names the phenomenon: Workslopor work in vain.
The word, mixing of work (work) and Slop (waste), defines the content created by generative the tools that appears to be valid work but, in reality, it lacks substance, context or real utility. And its effects are already quantifiable: 40% of workers surveyed in the United States say they have received Workslop In the last month. Every time it happens, this implies an average loss of 1 hour and 56 minutes of work.
For a company of 10,000 employees, this is more than 9 million dollars annually in lost productivity, which questions the promised benefits of the mass adoption of this technology.
Beyond the impact over time, the emotional effect is remarkable. 53% of employees feel annoying when receiving this type of content, and 42% say they have lost confidence in those who generated it. In addition, many admit that seeing a partner resort to this type of tools for certain projects, makes them perceive as less intelligent, creative or competent.
A shortcut that generates more load
The rise of tools such as Chatgpt has facilitated the creation of mails, presentations, summaries or reports with professional appearance. But they are not always well oriented or contextualized. What is apparently efficiency, becomes an added load for those who receive the content and must rebuild or interpret it.
“Create a situation where I have to decide if I rewrite the content, I ask you to rehabrate it or simply give it for good … it is more mentally exhausting than it seems”explains a manager of the financial sector cited in the study.
In many cases, the Workslop It is not limited to colleagues of the same level: 18% of workers admit to having sent this content to their superiors, and 16% say they have received it from management positions.
Thus, the proliferation of AI in the corporate environment is not always accompanied by results. According to the MIT Media Lab, 95% of companies are not obtaining a measurable return on their investment in AI. And the surface or indiscriminate use of these tools can be one of the main reasons.
He Workslop It represents, therefore, a modern form of “cognitive outsourcing”: the worker transfers the intellectual effort not to a machine, but to another human that must be responsible for correcting and providing the real value that the system has not generated.
From Stanford and Betterup Labs they recommend that organizations develop clear policies for the use of AI, establish quality standards and encourage what they call “adoption with purpose.”
“AI should not be a shortcut or a way to avoid work, but a tool to better collaborate”the authors point out. “It is the responsibility of leaders to model reflexive and intention.”
They also propose to classify workers according to their mentality in front of AI:
- The pilots: employees with high autonomy and optimism, who use AI to enhance their creativity and achieve objectives.
- Passengers: those with the lowest initiative, who resort to AI as an escape for tasks that do not want to address.
It is not about prohibiting the use of these tools, but of incorporating them into the workflow deliberately, ensuring that they add up.
At a time when companies seek efficiency and transformation, indiscriminate use of AI can become a brake rather than an accelerator. The challenge is not to adopt technology, but to do it with criteria. And if the work generated by AI does not improve collaboration or results, it is simply not fulfilling its promise.
