SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — It’s happened to many of us by now. Maybe it’s a work email, or a research report. Perhaps it’s a lengthy “leadership lesson” post you’ve read on LinkedIn. The wording is OK, perhaps a bit overly elaborate.
But there’s something about it that just seems off. The words might not necessarily be wrong, but ultimately, it feels like there’s no there there.
Researchers have coined a new term for this; artificial intelligence-generated “workslop.” According to new research, it’s a phenomenon that’s on the rise and is already costing companies millions.
What is AI workslop?
According to a new study from BetterUp and Stanford Social Media Lab, workslop is “the new busywork.” According to the research, workslop is “AI-generated content that looks good, but lacks substance.”
Workslop, the research states, “creates the illusion of progress — slick slides, lengthy reports, overly tightened summaries, or code without content.”
Far from being merely harmless and empty, workslop, rather than saving time, “leaves colleagues to do the real thinking and clean-up” the research continues. The phenomenon is already enormously prevalent, with 40% of U.S. desk workers having received workslop in the last month reportedly.
How destructive is workslop?
Each workslop incident takes an average of two hours to resolve at a monthly cost per employee of $186. That puts the annual cost for an enterprise-level 10,000-person company at $9 million.
“Workslop spreads when AI becomes a crutch instead of a tool for collaboration,” the research said. On an individual level, it leaves people feeling “frustrated, confused and disengaged.”
For teams it leads to wasted work cycles, duplicated efforts, and a loss of trust. At an organizational level, AI workslop results in lost time as organizations are “misled by false productivity and experience stalled AI adoption.”
Receiving AI-generated workslop, the research states, “negatively impacts our relationships and changes perception of colleagues.”
“Receiving this poor quality work created a huge time waste and inconvenience for me,” said an anonymous project manager quoted in the research. “Since it was provided by my supervisor, I felt uncomfortable confronting her about its poor quality and requesting she redo it. So instead, I had to take on effort to do something that should have been her responsibility, which got in the way of my other ongoing projects.”
What’s behind the rise in workslop?
According to an article at the Harvard Business Review co-authored by Kate Niederhoffer of BetterUp, the rise of workslop is the result of a “confusing contradiction” that’s “unfolding in companies embracing generative AI tools.”
Workers, the article states, “are largely following mandates to embrace the technology,” however, “few are seeing it create real value.”
According to the article, the number of companies with AI-led processes nearly doubled last year and AI use at work in general has doubled since 2023. However, a recent report from MIT found that 95% of organizations that had adopted AI have seen no measurable return on their investment.
“So much activity, so much enthusiasm, so little return. Why?” the article asked. One possible reason the article goes on to say is that workers are “using AI tools to create low-effort, passable looking work that ends up creating more work for their coworkers,” otherwise known as workslop.
“We define workslop as AI generated work content that masquerades as good work, but lacks the substance to meaningfully advance a given task,” the article adds.
How can workslop be prevented?
According to BetterUp, workslop “spreads when AI work loses context and accountability.” The research indicates that leaders can curb workslop by “setting clear guardrails modeling thoughtful AI use and cultivating ‘pilot’ mindsets that use AI to enhance collaboration rather than avoid work.”
Pilots, the researchers say, are “more likely to use AI to enhance their own creativity,” than “passengers,” who are “more likely to use AI in order to avoid doing work.”
The researchers also warn against “indiscriminate imperatives” to adopt AI, which they say can lead to “employees thoughtlessly copying and pasting AI responses into documents, even when AI isn’t suited to the job at hand.”
The researchers also recommend recommitting to collaboration and framing AI “as a collaborative tool, not a shortcut.”
Want more insights? Join Working Title - our career elevating newsletter and get the future of work delivered weekly.
