Don’t Use AI at Work—Unless You Want Everyone To Hate You

With the emergence of artificial intelligence and the ensuing implementation of AI among everyday people, there has been a constant debate as to the ethics behind its usage. A study funded by Duke University has discovered that this controversy has led to what it calls a “social penalty” in the workplace. 

Do you have a coworker who can’t stop bragging about how they used ChatGPT to put together their presentation? Or how that graphic they came up with on the company’s letterhead was created out of Google’s Gemini? Don’t you just hate that? 

That’s what this “social penalty” that the study dove into is all about. Using more than 4,400 participants across four trials, observers found that people look down on those who tap into the advanced technology to make things “easier” at work. The negative perception stretches across all demographics, too. It doesn’t matter if you’re young, old, male, or female. If you use AI, people think you’re just cutting corners. 

Your Coworkers Are Judging Your AI Usage at Work

It’s also believed that, when prospective employers learn of a candidate’s AI savviness, it can hinder the chances of them being hired. That’s especially true when the managers themselves don’t use it, according to the study. 

Now, that doesn’t mean using AI at the office is a giant scarlet letter on our chests, either. When employers and coworkers know why and how you’re using AI, the chances of them seeing its value goes up. That “social penalty” lessens when it’s perceived that AI is actually helping assist on the assignment, not just doing all of the work. 

This is an intriguing study because it’s becoming commonplace to find AI integration all over the workforce. Since it’s still early in the inception process, there’s a lot of pushback on how we should be using these services. 

Ultimately, as the study explained, the negativity doesn’t exist solely because someone uses AI; rather, it’s why they are using it. If you’re letting this robot behind the screen do all of your work out of sheer laziness, that’s a red flag.

Using AI to save time on mundane tasks? That’s typically no biggie!