34% of Workers Feel AI is Increasing Workload

Sometimes the things designed to make our lives easier can have the opposite effect. Anyone who has trained a new employee or taken on an associate straight out of law school is familiar with this feeling. It takes many hours to review, revise, and give feedback to folks who are learning the ropes. The summer intern that is brought on to lighten the load can quickly become a burden. About a third of the workforce appears to experience this phenomenon with AI. Recent polling from Just Capital discovered that 34% of workers report that AI is increasing workload. The authors discuss these findings, stating:

“Respondents said the added workload comes mostly from managing and checking AI output – reviewing drafts, catching errors, and re-doing work the model got wrong. It’s the unglamorous labor of quality control, and right now, it appears to be landing squarely on employees’ shoulders. Interestingly, it’s not a story of frustration or distrust. Among workers who say AI has changed their job, 88% call that change positive.”

The primary difference between cleaning up after an AI and performing oversight of a human is that humans are capable of taking and implementing feedback. We grow as our mentors correct our mistakes. The summer intern can leave much more capable than they began. AI “learns” from human inputs and feedback, but the lessons don’t always stick. Often, LLMs are learning from multiple users at once, giving contradictory or incompatible feedback. It becomes difficult to tailor an LLM to employee needs. However, despite this increase in work, the sentiment around AI adoption remains largely positive. It saves employees time and employers money to carefully evaluate AI implementation. AI just isn’t ready for certain tasks. Ask your employees for feedback. Learn how AI integration impacts them and don’t mandate AI use in cases where AI is increasing workload through inefficiency.