AI ‘workslop’ is emerging as the latest office headache

AI may be speeding up your emails, but much of it is turning into “workslop” – machine-generated content that leave colleagues frustrated, confused, and behind schedule, according to new research.

A new study from Stanford University and BetterUp Labs says this is becoming a regular feature of office life. In a survey of 1,150 U.S. full-time employees, 40% said they had received AI workslop in the past month.

Each instance takes nearly two hours to resolve, carrying an invisible tax of about $186 per worker per month, the researchers calculated. For a company with 10,000 employees, that amounts to more than $9 million a year in lost productivity.

“Workslop may feel effortless to create but exacts a toll on the organization,” the researchers wrote.

Employees surveyed said the effect goes beyond wasted hours . More than half reported feeling annoyed when they receive it, while others said they felt confused and even offended. Nearly half said it made them see colleagues as less capable and less trustworthy.

Some were blunt. “It created a situation where I had to decide whether I would rewrite it myself, make him rewrite it, or just call it good enough,” said one finance worker.

A manager in technology said an AI-written email “probably took an hour or two of time just to congregate everybody and repeat the information in a clear and concise way.”

The findings come as companies accelerate investment in generative AI. The number of firms with AI-led processes nearly doubled last year, and workplace use of the technology has also doubled since 2023, the study said. Yet research from MIT has found that 95% of firms see no measurable return on their AI spending.

Workslop helps explain why. As tools have become more accessible, employees can quickly generate slides, reports, and emails that look convincing but lack substance. “Workslop may feel effortless to create but exacts a toll on the organization,” the Stanford authors wrote.

The study found workslop flows mostly between peers, but it also moves up and down the ladder. About 18% of respondents said they had sent workslop to managers, while 16% reported receiving it from bosses.

Researchers recommended that leaders establish clear guardrails, discourage indiscriminate use of AI, and promote what they call “purposeful” adoption. Without that, they warn, the spread of workslop risks undermining both productivity and trust at work.