Remember When Bosses Were Forcing Their Workers to Use AI? They're Now Realizing They Made a Huge Mistake

Futurism reports that for years, many bosses have been adamant that employees use AI at all costs[1]. The outlet says this happened despite research suggesting there's little to gain from it in terms of productivity[1].Futurism cites Business Insider's account of how one CEO of a tech recruiting company suddenly found herself being inundated with Slack messages from employees that they'd clearly generated using AI[1]. According to that account, this led her to implement a new policy that strictly forbids the practice for internal communications[1].Futurism also points to an Inc report: one anonymous CEO got so fed up, they threatened to "fire the next person" who blasted them with unedited ChatGPT slop[1].Futurism describes a new study published in the journal The Leadership Quarterly[2]. In it, a team of researchers led by Hebrew University of Jerusalem PhD student Samuel Meyers found that employees who doubled down on using tools like ChatGPT are being trusted less by their employers[2]. Futurism says that this held even at workplaces where the use of AI tools are still actively being encouraged[2].Futurism also says that executives have also found that the use of AI agents and coding tools in particular have sent costs soaring[1]. The outlet adds that polls have shown that the vast majority of CEOs haven't seen any productivity gains[1].According to Futurism, Meyers and his colleagues worry this growing tension could give rise to "shadow AI" — undisclosed use of the tech at work[1].