'Workslop' | Poorly executed AI costing firms trust, productivity, & $9m a year

Companies rushing to integrate generative AI are finding a puzzling disconnect with adoption rates soaring, but meaningful returns still scarce.

A study from the MIT Media Lab revealed that 95% of organizations have seen no measurable ROI on AI investments, despite AI-led processes nearly doubling last year. Use of AI in the workplace has also doubled since 2023, yet the benefits are failing to materialize.

BetterUp Labs, working with Stanford’s Social Media Lab, believes one explanation is what it calls “workslop", referring to AI-generated work that looks polished but lacks the substance to advance a task, effectively shifting the burden downstream to colleagues.

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‘Invisible tax’ on productivity

Survey data from 1,150 full-time US employees found 40% received "workslop" in the past month, estimating that 15.4% of the content they see at work fits the definition. Incidents flow mostly between peers (40%), though 18% travel upward from staff to managers, and 16% flow downward from leaders to teams.