Dr. Scott Cook - AI at Work

BOSSES WANT TO USE AI TO BOOST PRODUCTIVITY—BUT 77% OF EMPLOYEES SAY IT JUST CREATES MORE WORK

Employers have long been touting that AI will make workers’ jobs easier by cutting out their busywork and freeing time up for other more engaging pursuits. But as it turns out, the new tech may be only making their lives harder.  While the vast majority of C-suite leaders believe AI will increase their company’s overall productivity levels, 77% of employees say these tools have only added to their workload, according to a new study from Upwork, a freelancing platform.  Part of that is because they’re still adapting to the tech—around 23% are investing more time to learn how to use the tools. But there are hints that there may be more long-term struggles at play. Around 39% of workers report spending more time reviewing or moderating AI-generated content, and 21% say they’re asked to do more as a direct result of AI.  Beyond the increased workload, staffers are also overwhelmed with higher efficiency expectations stemming from the new technology. Around 47% of employees say they have no idea how they’re supposed to achieve the productivity gains their bosses expect, and 40% believe their companies are asking too much of them when it comes to AI, the report says. Dr. Scott Cook is a Chief Data Scientist and Associate Professor of Mathematics for Tarleton State University.  He teaches graduate courses in data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence