The promise of AI, in the broadest of terms, is helping humans.
AI companies might tack on a more-specific verb to that promise to better spotlight the focus provided — helping humans search, helping humans streamline, helping humans publish — but at the root of any AI’s sales-pitch in the workplace is the promise of helping humans work.
And so far, according to a recent study from the Harvard Business Review, AI hasn’t reduced work, but instead “consistently intensified it.”
“Employees worked at a faster pace, took on a broader scope of tasks, and extended work into more hours of the day, often without being asked to do so,” writes Aruna Ranganathan and Xingqi Maggie Ye of the eight-month study that took place at an American tech company with approximately 200 employees. “While this may sound like a dream come true for leaders, the changes brought about by enthusiastic AI adoption can be unsustainable, causing problems down the line.”
With AI in their toolbelt, workers took on responsibilities that had belonged to others, “blurred boundaries between work and non-work” by prompting AI during times that had previously been used for breaks, and created a pattern in which multitasking became more like juggling. In time, workers saw their workload grow, leading to feelings of being stretched too far, burnout, cognitive fatigue, and even “weakened decision-making.”
“The productivity surge enjoyed at the beginning can give way to lower quality work, turnover, and other problems,” the authors write. “As one engineer summarized, ‘You had thought that maybe, oh, because you could be more productive with AI, then you save some time, you can work less. But then really, you don’t work less. You just work the same amount or even more.’”
The authors recommend companies develop a set of standards around AI practices that includes “intentional pauses, sequencing coordination, and protecting personal time and space with connection and “human grounding.”
“Our findings suggest that without intention, AI makes it easier to do more — but harder to stop,” the authors write. “An AI practice offers a counterbalance: a way to preserve moments for recovery and reflection even as work accelerates.”
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