It’s now a cultural myth that the robots are going to replace us someday, enabling human beings to either enjoy a life of leisure while artificial intelligence does all the work, or get pummeled by rogue machines. Developers of the latest wave of AI systems like ChatGPT have advertised their inventions as major time-saving devices. From software coding to writing composition essays, AI was supposed to indicate an easier workload.

Suppose though that it only added to the stress?

A recent study conducted by Upwork suggests the opposite of the pipe dream: AI is actually complicating our work and causing people to work more, not less. Employers are eager to use AI to improve productivity, but employees are reporting burnout, saying that now they have to learn how to incorporate AI into their skillsets, moderate AI-generated content, and, since supposedly the technology eases the workload, getting more work assigned to them. The study overview says:

C-suite leaders have high hopes that AI will help boost productivity, but employees are experiencing the opposite, with AI making their jobs harder: 96% of C-suite leaders expect the use of AI tools to increase their company’s overall productivity levels. Already, 85% of companies are using AI, including 39% mandating the use of AI tools and 46% encouraging their use. However, 77% of employees report that these tools have added to their workload. Employees report spending more time reviewing or moderating AI-generated content (39%), investing more time learning how to use these tools (23%), and being asked to do more work as a direct result of AI (21%).

Upwork Study Finds Employee Workloads Rising Despite Increased C-Suite Investment in Artificial Intelligence | Upwork Inc.

Part-time freelancers reported more affinity with AI, with around a third reporting they used AI tools 1-2 times a week. Full-time employees, however, who are being challenged to incorporate AI more fundamentally into their schedule and skillsets, are not seeing the promised productivity yields.

The AI “hype curve” has a lot of companies rushing to implement AI in every sphere and function, but the data is starting to show that the hype isn’t as substantial as it was purported to be. In addition, AI systems can make employees’ more dependent, hassled, and burnt out. AI-generated content still needs to be checked and proofed. For writers, though, the longer we use AI as a tool, how long will it take before our own proofreading abilities start to atrophy and we start to let excellence slide?