It’s in your inbox, X feed, LinkedIn feed, and, well, all the other feeds. It’s front and center at conferences, webinars, and coffee gatherings. “932 Ways to Use AI in Your Business.”
Listen, we’ve said it before. You need to think about how to use AI. You need to use AI. But the potential and limitations of AI need to be addressed in a clear-headed way.
Right now, there are definite areas where AI usage will benefit you. Any small tasks that consume time and which have clear guiderails are prime targets. AI engines are excellent at organization and research. Content creation (for marketing, sales, etc) can be done with AI, although we’ve warned about how relying exclusively on AI for massaging ultimately erodes the “social trust” you’ve built in your local business.
In the coming months and years, agentic-type AI engines that deal in integrations will be incredibly valuable to you as a business owner. That is, when you can instruct an AI agent to take material from one platform and use that to accomplish a task in another platform, that will aid business owners significantly. Some of these capacities are already out there, even if they do take time, effort, and, occasionally, technical know-how.
Workslop
But, at what cost? Any new technology requires us to consider ALL consequences, both good and bad. Enter “Workslop.” This term refers to the shoddy outcomes inherent in AI usage, work which requires human attention and effort to correct. It’s a real problem which produces negative financial, operational, and management results.
Notably, 40% of U.S. workers reported receiving Workslop in the previous month, and it took an average of 2 hrs to correct the problems in this AI-generated workslop. Another study said that the average worker spent 3.4 hours per month JUST correcting workslop. That is a massive amount of time spent cleaning up problems from a tool which is supposed to SAVE time.
In addition, as we have mentioned before, heavy AI usage reduces “social trust.” This applies to individuals within businesses, as well. When you send out Workslop, your colleagues tend to see you as less creative, capable, reliable, trustworthy, and intelligent.
The problem of Workslop is compounded by the massive discrepancy between “C-suite” understanding of AI, and the real boots-on-the-ground reality. For example, one study showed that “40% of non-managers say AI saves them no time at all at work, while 92% of high-level executives say it makes them more productive.” Anyone who has been asked to “use AI” to help with tasks understands the limitations. No engine is a magic bullet. Sure, excellent and productive uses for AI are present, growing, and even necessary for your business. But like any tool, AI can increase frustration and busy work while reducing ACTUAL productivity.
So, how do you decide on policies, practices, and procedures for AI in your business?
Five AI Usage Principles
First, AI usage should be targeted and specific. Do not adopt tools because they sound cool at a conference, webinar, or coffee gathering. You should know what the tool does and how it will apply to your business.
Relatedly, AI usage should have clear outcomes. You should not use AI just to use AI. Using AI should GIVE you more than it takes away. However you measure that, you need to measure it.
You must train users on the tool. Whether it starts with a particular individual or a team, someone in your organization should understand the robustness of the tool in order to share it with others. This will take time and some playing in the sandbox. This is why adoption needs to be targeted and specific with clear outcomes. Initial usage will likely be inefficient and may not produce much ROI initially.
Treat your AI tool as an assistant, not a trusted colleague. AI is very confident and very friendly. Engines are designed that way. They will flatter you and your ideas, and they will produce results in line with your own thinking, whether good or bad. What it produces might be highly effective, but it is also trying to please you. You would never present public-facing work from that assistant who desperately wants to please you without significant combing through the work with a fine-tooth comb. Think of AI like that – a massive group of highly-trained, eager, and fast assistants….very capable of producing work, but produced with flattery as a primary aim rather than accuracy.
Finally, a human must always be the last line. Similar to the above point, no AI material should be utilized internally or shared out without significant and final human oversight. Full stop.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, AI is a tool, not a shortcut to better work. Used well, it can absolutely create leverage in your business. Used poorly, it creates noise, rework, and a slow erosion of trust that’s hard to win back. “Workslop” isn’t just an annoyance. It’s a signal that something in your process is off.
The businesses that win with AI won’t be the ones using it the most. They’ll be the ones using it the most intentionally. The difference will be efficiency vs. chaos. And efficiency means clear use-cases, trained users, defined outcomes, and real human oversight.
If you’re going to bring AI into your business, do it with your eyes open. Otherwise, you may find yourself spending more time cleaning up workslop rather than growing your business.