Harvard Business Review (HBR) says generative AI tools have consistently intensified work rather than reducing it, even when AI use was not required by management.
In an eight-month study involving a US-based technology company with about 200 employees, researchers found that workers began moving faster, taking on broader responsibilities and extending work into more hours of the day, often without being asked to do so.
Employees reported that AI made “doing more” feel possible, accessible and in many cases, intrinsically rewarding.
One major shift involves task expansion. According to the researchers, generative AI’s ability to fill knowledge gaps and provide instant feedback enabled employees to increasingly step into roles that previously belonged to other teams. Product managers and designers began writing code and researchers began taking on engineering tasks. Workers attempted projects they would have outsourced, delayed or avoided in the past.
“Generative AI made those tasks feel newly accessible. These tools provided what many experienced as an empowering cognitive boost: They reduced dependence on others, and offered immediate feedback and correction along the way.”
Another change was the blurring of boundaries between work and non-work. AI reduced the friction of starting tasks, making it easy for employees to slip small amounts of work into moments that had previously been breaks. Workers described prompting AI during lunch, meetings or while waiting for files to load.
“The conversational style of prompting further softened the experience; typing a line to an AI system felt closer to chatting than to undertaking a formal task, making it easy for work to spill into evenings or early mornings without deliberate intention.”
AI also changed how people multitasked. Researchers say workers ran multiple AI agents in parallel, revived long-deferred tasks or worked on one version of a project while AI generated alternatives in the background. Many described the AI as a “partner” that helped them maintain momentum.
But the researchers warn that workers feel their workload has increased with the use of AI, which can ultimately lead to cognitive fatigue, burnout and weaker decision-making.
“The productivity surge enjoyed at the beginning can give way to lower quality work, turnover, and other problems.”
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