Scrutiny of AI at work is intensifying after a lawyer recounted a boss who insisted employees run things by ChatGPT before meetings, then reportedly turned to the chatbot when deciding whom to hire or fire.
Her story fits a wider set of complaints from workers who say managers' fascination with AI can turn offices into places marked by confusion, wasted effort, and stress.
What happened?
In comments to Futurism, an anonymous attorney said her manager's relationship with ChatGPT shifted from simple interest to near-total reliance.
According to her, he told staff "that from then on, we had to discuss with the AI prior to all meetings or before communicating with him," and warned that if they skipped that step, it showed "we didn't care about our jobs."
She said that later he was "making structural company decisions based solely on his conversations with ChatGPT," including using the tool to make hiring and firing decisions.
Shared paid ChatGPT accounts gave employees a window into some of those exchanges, she said, and workers "would monitor the conversations our boss was having with ChatGPT … to find out who was going to be fired and who was going to be promoted."
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Those repeated AI-led changes, the attorney said, kept reshaping both the company's direction and her own responsibilities from one week to the next.
What finally pushed her out, she said, was a sprawling internal document known as "The Bible," which employees were supposed to study and use with ChatGPT to determine their daily work. She said, "I quit 100% because of the AI use."
Why does it matter?
Workers quoted in the report said the technology was not making them faster or their bosses wiser; instead, they described more upheaval, less respect for expertise, and managers growing overconfident in AI output.
If a boss treats chatbot output as more trustworthy than staff experience, it can shape promotions, strategy, morale, and whether people keep their jobs. In sensitive fields such as law, social work, and tech, overreliance on AI can also raise concerns about privacy, quality control, and accountability.
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AI is becoming increasingly tied to the energy grid because powerful models rely on data centers that consume large amounts of electricity and water for cooling. At the same time, AI can help utilities forecast demand, improve building efficiency, and better integrate solar and wind power.
The same technology that may support cleaner energy systems can also strain grids, increase costs, create security risks, and lead to harmful real-world decisions when used carelessly.
What are people saying?
For one IT employee, the issue was that his supervisor used AI "more as a digital priest whose primary purpose was to confirm that he was right and everyone else was mistaken."
A sales strategist described the disconnect this way: "It's like being in an abusive marriage. I'm sitting here dealing with somebody that isn't living in reality."
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