Dive Brief:
- Workers who employ passive artificial intelligence use, or that which involves copying and pasting AI-generated responses to complete a task, may feel reduced ownership and meaningfulness on the job, researchers at Penn State and the University of Southern California found in a recent study.
- Researchers asked 270 professionals, including some working in HR, to complete a series of writing tests via three formats: a manual approach with no AI assistance, an actively collaborative approach with AI and a passive AI approach. The latter reduced feelings of ownership by 20% and self-efficacy and meaningfulness by 10% relative to the manual approach, but it also increased task enjoyment and outcome satisfaction.
- The results showed that passive AI use could erode employees’ confidence, Yidan Yin, assistant professor at Penn State and co-author of the study, said in the university’s press release. Employers that solely frame AI as a tool to maximize productivity may inadvertently encourage passive use, he added.
Dive Insight:
As employers embrace AI for its benefits, they may find that it has some unintended consequences on broader organizational well-being. Yin noted that workers who use AI passively may feel alienated from their work or gradually lose job satisfaction over time.
“They have an initial burst of enjoyment because they don’t need to put in a lot of effort to accomplish the task well, but it makes an employee reluctant to do the task manually,” he said. “It also leads them to feel like they’re not needed — they see firsthand that AI can perform a task effectively and could potentially replace them.”
There is also evidence that AI can make work harder. A recent Boston Consulting Group survey found that 67% of workers who used AI on a regular basis reported increased job satisfaction but also a 41% increase in their cognitive load, a sign of what BCG termed a “joy paradox.” The firm also noted that while AI saved 42% of front-line employees up to a full workday per week, 47% said they spent more time dealing with AI than doing work itself.
On the talent front, AI adoption has led to increased expectations for entry-level hires, who are expected to be more productive despite lacking access to training to help them adjust to an AI-driven workplace, according to a May report by D2L and Morning Consult. That coincides with a downwardly trending job market for entry-level employees generally, which experts have said is at least partly attributable to AI’s influence.
The technology has the potential to both positively and negatively affect employees’ mental health, sources previously told HR Dive, but how AI is deployed greatly influences the outcome. Organizations that adopt AI transparently, set clear ethical guardrails around its use and provide reskilling opportunities may be better positioned to reduce negative mental health effects, sources said.