How using AI at work can hurt your career, according to experts
Experts warn that over-reliance on AI for critical thinking and creative tasks can lead to career stagnation and mediocrity. While AI is useful for productivity and brainstorming, professionals are cautioned against 'cognitive surrender' to algorithmic consensus.
Why it matters
As AI adoption grows in the workplace, understanding the balance between using tools for efficiency and maintaining human judgment is critical for long-term career development.
Using artificial intelligence can make people "boring ," according to Sandra Matz, a professor at Columbia Business School. Her research on the topic indicates two direct consequences for workers: stagnation and mediocrity.
"When employees use it to outsource critical thinking or creative reasoning, there's a real risk of gradually falling behind and becoming complacent ," said Matz.
One reason for that is many AI tools generate the most obvious and safe responses, she said: "In short, we become just like everyone else."
Already 43% of workers in the U.S. report using AI for their job, according to a study published in March by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
But many professionals may struggle to distinguish between helpful and harmful ways of using the technology, said Fred Oswald, an industrial-organizational psychologist and a former member of the National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee.
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