Burnout warning as AI fails to deliver productivity gains

Most full-time employees feel burned out and struggle in the face of increasing demands from senior managers, according to recent research.
A study by the Upwork Research Institute, From Burnout to Balance: AI-Enhanced Work Models, reveals that 71% of full-time employees are burned out and 65% struggle with their employers’ productivity demands. Meanwhile, 81% of global C-suite leaders admit they have increased demands on workers in the past year.
C-suite leaders have high hopes that generative AI will help boost their companies’ productivity, with 96% expecting the emerging technology to do so. The research, which surveyed 2,500 C-suite executives, full-time employees and freelancers in the US, UK, Australia and Canada, found that 39% of companies are mandating the use of AI tools, while another 46% encourage their use. 
However, 47% of employees who use AI say they don’t know how to achieve the productivity gains employers expect – and 77% say the tools have decreased their productivity and added to their workload. 
The institute says organisations are failing to unlock generative AI’s full productivity value because they are introducing it into outdated models and systems.
Managing director Kelly Monahan noted that a lot of large language models “operate at best when a human is in the loop and when there is human judgment and oversight”.
She advised companies and workers “take a big step back and say what is the business problem we’re solving? How do I rethink the way that I’m doing my job in order to achieve that? And how does this tool help?”