Experts from the consulting company BetterUp Labs, together with Stanford Social Media Lab, have introduced a new phrase for describing poor-quality output created by AI: “workslop.”
According to a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, workslop refers to “AI-produced work that appears competent but ultimately lacks the depth needed to truly move a task forward.”
Researchers at BetterUp Labs believe that workslop may help explain why 95% of companies that have implemented AI report no measurable benefit from their investment. They note that workslop is often “not useful, lacks important details, or omits essential context,” which ends up increasing the workload for others.
“The subtle danger of workslop is that it pushes the responsibility for fixing the work onto others, forcing them to interpret, revise, or completely redo it,” the researchers explain.
They also carried out an ongoing poll involving 1,150 full-time employees in the United States, finding that 40% of participants reported encountering workslop within the last month.
To prevent this issue, the researchers recommend that leaders in the workplace should “demonstrate intentional and thoughtful AI usage” and “establish clear guidelines for teams regarding standards and proper application.”