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First, AI flooded the internet with slop, now it's destroying work, too  this
is how you use AI and still be a stellar employee

Date:
Thu, 25 Sep 2025 15:30:00 +0000

Description:
AI workslop is overrunning the workplace, and we need to do something about 
it  fast.

FULL STORY
======================================================================

If there's one thing we can depend on AI for, it's to prove time and time
again that you can't simply replace human effort with technology. A new
Harvard Business Review and Stanford  Media Lab study found that "workslop" 
is overrunning business and, in the process, ruining work and reputations. 

If workslop sounds familiar, that's because it's a cousin to AI slop . The
latter is all over the internet and characterized by bad art, poor writing,
six-fingered videos, and auto-tuned-sounding music. 

Workslop, according to HBR, is " AI generated work content that masquerades 
as good work, but lacks the substance to meaningfully advance a given task ." 

Because we're living on AI Time and everything in technology (and life) 
seems, thanks to generative AI, to be happening at three times its normal
pace, we suddenly have Large Language Model (LLM)-driven AI in every corner 
of our lives. 

Generative platforms like Gemini , Copilot , Claude , and ChatGPT live on our
phones, and while Google search still far outstrips ChatGPT as a tool for
basic search results, more and more people are turning to ChatGPT when they
want deeper, richer, and theoretically more useful answers. 

That trend continues in the workplace, where, seemingly overnight, tools like
Gemini and Copilot are embedded in productivity apps like Gmail and Microsoft
Word. 

They're capable of generating: Summaries Reports Presentations Redsearch
Coding Graphics 

And it's clear from this report that there has been a quick and broad embrace
of these tools for these and many other office tasks. In fact, workers might
be squeezing a little too tight. 

In the study, 40% of respondents reported receiving workslop, and they're 
none too happy about it. They report being confused and even offended. 

Even worse, workslop is changing how they view coworkers. 

The problem with workslop is that while it appears to be complete and
high-quality work, it is often not. AI can still produce errors and
hallucinations. OpenAI's GPT-5 model is the first major update to address the
hallucination issue, stopping ChatGPT from filling in the blanks with
guesswork when it doesn't know something. Still, it and other AIs are not
perfect. 

The work is often weirdly cookie-cutter, in that these are still programs
(highly complex ones) that rely on a handful of go-to terms like "delve",
"pivotal", "realm", and "underscore." 

It's not clear if the workers using AI to build reports and projects 
recognize this, but their coworkers and managers appear to be aware, and 
let's just say that the workers' next performance evaluations may not be
recognizing them for "originality."

A bad look 

According to the report, peers perceive that AI-work-product-delivering
coworkers as less capable, reliable, and trustworthy. They also think they're
less creative and intelligent. 

Now, that seems a bit unfair. After all, it does take some effort to create a
prompt or series of prompts that will result in a finished project. 

Still, the reaction to this workslop indicates that people are not 
necessarily curating the work. Instead of a series of prompts delivered to 
the AI to create some output, they might be plugging in one prompt, seeing 
the results, and deciding, "That's good enough." 

The cycle of unhappiness continues when managers and peers report this
workslop to their managers. It's a bad look all around, especially if the
workslop makes it out of a company and into a client's hands.

What's been lost in this rush to use generative AI as a workplace tool is 
that it was never intended to replace us or, more specifically, our brains.
The best work comes from our creative spark and deep knowledge of context, 
two things AI decidedly lacks. 

When I asked ChatGPT, "Do you think it's a good idea for me to ask you to do
work for me and then for me to present it to my boss?" it did a decent job of
putting the issue in perspective. 

Mostly, ChatGPT discussed how it can help in research and outlining the first
version of a project, being a time saver to cut down on repetitive tasks, and
helping me generate fresh ideas. 

It warned me, however, about Originality & Attribution Accuracy Ethics and
Expectations 

It was almost as if ChatGPT had already read the HBR study. Even it knows
workslop is bad. 

How do we avoid workslop? 

HBR had some ideas, and I think it's pretty simple. Remind everyone that AI 
is not the answer to every problem. 

Ensure that everyone knows when it's best to use AI and understands what
should happen to the AI output, i.e., editing, fact-checking, shaping, or
rewriting. 

Start viewing AI as a very smart assistant, not as another, smarter version 
of yourself. 

Insist on more in-person meetings and direct collaboration. Reembrace the
beauty of a brainstorm. 

Workslop, like AI slop before it, will surely get worse before it gets 
better, and there is a real chance that we may soon no longer know the
difference between original human work and AI-generated projects, but I hope
that day never comes. We can figure this out. Even ChatGPT knows the answer: 

 "Think of me as your co-writer or research assistant , not a ghostwriter.
Take what I give you, refine it, make sure its in your voice, and add your
personal expertise. That way, youre delivering something polished but still
authentically yours."

======================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/ai-platforms-assistants/first-ai-flooded-the-interne
t-with-slop-now-its-destroying-work-too-this-is-how-you-use-ai-and-still-be-a-
stellar-employee

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