Yes, AI has made it extraordinarily easy to produce work, but that is not always a good thing.
A polished 20-page report can now be generated in minutes. So too a lengthy proposal, presentation, briefing paper or email. But someone still has to read it.
The term “workslop” has emerged to describe low-effort AI-generated work that looks plausible and polished but transfers responsibility to the receiver to make sense of it.
They now bear the burden to:
- work out what matters
- check questionable claims
- clarify vague thinking
- reconstruct the reasoning that should have happened before the document was sent.
That can create a unforeseen productivity problem at an organisational level,.
AI makes each individual faster at producing outputs while simultaneously increasing the volume of material everyone else must process. More reports. More emails. More slides. More summaries.
We risk confusing increased production with increased productivity. The solution is not to stop using AI to create content, rather raise the standard for what should
Before generating anything, ask:
- Does this need to exist?
- Who needs it?
- What do they actually need to know?
- What decision or action should it support?
- Could this be shorter?
Managers also need to set expectations around quality as “AI generated it” cannot be an excuse for sending poorly considered work downstream.
Be AI-Wise
AI should reduce unnecessary work, not manufacture more of it.
The smartest AI user may not be the person who can generate the most.
It may be the person who knows when not to generate anything at all.
Leadership question:
Is AI reducing work in your organisation – or simply making creating more work for one another?
GAPS Professional Writing helps organisations build practical AI capability, strengthen workplace writing and redesign workflows for effective human-AI collaboration. Visit www.gapswriting.com.