Adding AI 'employees' is backfiring by creating new office scapegoats and making human workers sloppier and lazier | Fortune

Nearly one-third of managers in the U.S., Canada, and the European Union describe AI as a teammate or employee, and more than 20% place AI agents on organizational work charts. Research from Boston Consulting Group surveyed over 1,200 human resources and finance professionals about workplace AI use and then tested their ability to assess a document containing multiple errors. Participants reviewed the same document but were told it came from a human employee, an AI tool, or a named AI “employee.” Those who believed the document came from a named AI employee identified fewer errors, reported less personal accountability by blaming the AI agent, and were more likely to request another employee review the AI’s work.

"A study conducted by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) found nearly one-third of managers across the U.S., Canada, and European Union framed AI as a teammate or employee, and more than 20% listed those AI agents on their company's work charts."

"Researchers led by Matthew Kropp, a managing director and senior partner at BCG surveyed more than 1,200 human resources and finance professionals on how AI was used in the workplace and then asked them to assess a workplace document with multiple errors in it. The participants were given the same document, but assigned into three groups: one where the document was attributed to a human employee, one to an AI tool, and another to a named AI "employee.""

"Those in the group with the document attributed to the AI employee were able to identify fewer errors. They also reported less accountability, blaming the AI agent, rather than themselves, for a mistake, and also were more likely to ask another employee to review the work of the AI employee, making a colleague's job harder."

""If you translate that into an organizational context, that means people sort of passing the buck," Kropp told Fortune. "That's creating more work for somebody else in the organization, and therefore you're creating churn and excess overhead in t""

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