While artificial intelligence is often promoted as a way to make work faster, some employees say it is having the opposite effect.
Workers responding to an Instagram post said they spent hours reviewing generated text, correcting unintended promises, and rebuilding creative concepts before they could be turned into usable products.
Here's what to know
In an Instagram post, Futurism described the disconnect between employers' enthusiasm for artificial intelligence and employees' experiences using it.
"For years, many bosses have been adamant that employees use AI at all costs — despite research suggesting there's little to gain from it in terms of productivity, evidence that flies in the face of the tech industry's repeated promises of a workplace revolution brought on by the tech," the caption said.
"Unedited AI slop has added hours to my workday," one user said.
Colleagues' failure to edit AI-generated documents left a social services worker dealing with repetitive content and unintended actions or promises. The user said the material needed to be reviewed and corrected.
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Those checks were edging out the senior responsibilities the worker actually wanted to perform.
More background
An advertising worker described a similar challenge: turning an AI-generated concept into something an agency can actually deliver.
The user said approved concepts can still require extensive rebuilding before use, even as their agency promotes AI in town halls and creative meetings.
The agency and its client need ownership rights to the work, and the material must also be editable and scalable.
Beyond these workplace concerns, AI also puts demands on energy and water resources. The computing infrastructure behind the technology takes electricity, while cooling data centers can use fresh water.
Although AI could help optimize clean energy systems, expanding its use also increases demand for those resources.
What's being done?
The social services worker returns AI-generated material to colleagues for corrections after checking it.
Keeping up with so much material left the commenter exhausted.
Before marketing work that uses AI, the advertising agency requires disclaimers and documentation, the worker said. These requirements add steps between generating an idea and publishing a finished campaign.
The worker also distinguished between using AI to explore concepts and carrying those ideas through production.
One user said, "Management made AI compulsory, then got upset when the waffle arrived in their own inbox."
Where can I learn more?
Other workers say AI is adding to their hours and giving employers new ways to monitor them. These stories describe Walmart scheduling problems, worker surveillance, automated empathy assessments, and home monitoring.
• A Walmart worker says AI scheduling leaves no consecutive days off and back-to-back closing and opening shifts.
• In the United States, workers say AI tracks their tone and trains bots to replace them.
• A call center nurse says AI judged her empathy, pressuring staff to act like robots.
• A New Jersey worker says her employer's AI photographed her at home every three minutes before firing her.
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