Just as workers were getting used to the idea that artificial intelligence could replace them, a new survey suggests a different future: AI is helpful in the same way a child “helps” make dinner.
According to a new survey from automation company Zapier, employees in U.S. companies spend an average of 4.5 hours per week correcting AI errors, or more than half a workday spent correcting results that seemed smart, confident and completely wrong.
This phenomenon now has a name: “AI workslop”. That’s what happens when a machine delivers something fancy enough to be reliable and fragile enough to ruin your afternoon.
The findings fall awkwardly against a backdrop of ongoing anxiety that AI will replace human labor. Instead, 58% of workers say they review, correct, or redo what AI produces. Only 2% say they can simply copy, paste and move on.
The irony is heavy: 92% of workers still say AI increases productivity, even though 74% of them report negative consequences of poor quality production, including work refusals, safety incidents and customer complaints.