The slop we call work

Artificial intelligence was meant to free us from routine tasks, giving us more time to think well.

Instead, it has turbocharged what is increasingly being called “workslop”.

Yes, you read correctly: workslop.

It is content that looks like work and sounds like work, yet carries very little thinking beneath the surface.

Most workers will have encountered the tell-tale signs of workslop.

The AI-generated workslop email is, without a doubt, the most common.

These emails are long, polite and extremely well structured. The wording is smooth. The sentences flow into each other with ease.

As for the paragraphs, they are particularly well sequenced. But the issue is that many AI-generated email messages say almost nothing.

It is also worth shining a spotlight on the workslop report.

This is a document that looks substantial – it might run to 20 pages or more. It is filled with pretty charts and frameworks and comes complete with those handy executive summaries.

The problem is that most AI-generated reports carefully avoid any clear judgement.

Every conclusion is couched in caveats. Every risk is acknowledged but never ranked. Every recommendation is framed as something to “explore” rather than decide.

The workslop slide deck is no better.

Slides are heavy on arrows, circles and three-word slogans. They are packed with generic language that could belong to almost any organisation. And being led through the slide deck feels like a journey to nowhere.

Perhaps the worst is the AI-generated workslop meeting summary. This is a record containing minutes that sound industrious but explain absolutely nothing. Everything seems to be documented, except what actually matters.

At first glance, workslop does not seem like a serious problem.

After all, the work still gets done – and quickly.

Yet workslop creates the illusion of progress.

It gives organisations plenty of activity but very little movement.

Decisions are delayed, responsibility becomes confused and hard choices are quietly avoided. It also makes it harder to spot weak thinking.

Once, poor ideas stood out. They were easily identifiable because they came across as clumsy, undercooked or obviously wrong. Workslop is different.

It is smooth, polished and confident in tone. It makes poor thinking far more persuasive than it deserves to be.

There is a human cost as well.

People spend time responding to long emails that say very little. They sit through presentations that go nowhere and read reports that fail to make a point.

AI was meant to free people from low-value tasks so they could think more deeply.

In too many workplaces, it has done the opposite. It has made it easier to avoid thinking altogether while appearing productive.

All AI output should be treated as draft material.

AI can help organise thoughts, summarise material or provide a basic structure. But it cannot think. This vital task still firmly belongs to people.

Someone still has to decide what they actually think and be prepared to stand behind it. Simply put, AI can write the words – but only people can do the thinking.