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The rise of AI is supposed to help companies streamline their operations and will potentially even take jobs away from humans. But a recent survey finds that generative AI tools burden employees with more work, not less.
Online freelancing platform Upwork commissioned a survey in the US, UK, Australia, and Canada to examine how AI has impacted the workplace. The study polled 2,500 workers, half of whom are company executives; the other half are full-time employees or freelancers.
The survey found that 96% of executives expect AI to boost worker productivity. However, the same poll indicates workers are struggling to improve their efficiency with today’s AI tools.
“Nearly half (47%) of employees using AI say they have no idea how to achieve the productivity gains their employers expect, and 77% say these tools have actually decreased their productivity and added to their workload,” the study says.
As for why, the survey found that 39% of employees often have to spend extra time checking the AI's work since some chatbots are notorious for making things up or “hallucinating." Meanwhile, 21% of respondents said they had to spend extra time learning how to use the same tools.
In addition, “40% of employees feel their company is asking too much of them when it comes to AI,” Upwork finds. "Consequently, 71% of full-time employees are burned out, and 65% report struggling with their employer’s demands on their productivity. Alarmingly, 1 in 3 employees say they will likely quit their jobs in the next six months due to burnout or being overworked."
The results suggest generative AI might be a double-edged sword like other office technologies, such as email. Although it can optimize some processes, the programs can also load workers with other tasks, such as overloaded inboxes and spam.
The findings also show “that introducing new technologies into outdated work models and systems is failing to unlock the full expected productivity value of AI,” says Kelly Monahan, managing director of Upwork’s research institute. “While it's certainly possible for AI to simultaneously boost productivity and improve employee well-being, this outcome will require a fundamental shift in how we organize talent and work."
Even so, the backers of today’s generative AI programs will probably disagree with the survey's results. For example, Microsoft, which has been promoting its Copilot AI, published its own study in May, which found that 90% of workers believe AI saves time on the job.