The emergence and ever-evolving state of generative AI is revolutionizing our lives across practically all aspects, but particularly at work. Microsoft's latest Work Trend Index report indicated that we're on the precipice of seeing agentic AI bosses join the fold, and even to some extent, AI claiming some jobs from professionals.
It's apparent that AI-powered tools like Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT are gaining broad adoption in organizations to handle redundant and repetitive tasks, affording professionals more time to handle more pressing and important tasks.
As is the case with Lindsey Scrase, the chief operating officer at Checkr Inc., who leveraged Microsoft Copilot's next-gen capabilities to completely unplug from work during a nine-day trip to Japan. “I want to really unplug this time,” Scrase told Bloomberg.
The executive disclosed that AI managed to summarize the key takeaways from the hundreds of messages shared on Slack, making it easier for her to catch up with everything she had missed while on vacation. Interestingly, AI doubled up as an assistant for the executive outside the office, helping her with important parts of her itinerary and even providing directions to various destinations.
For most people, work is centered around their lives, and sadly, for some, even when on vacation. It could be from the hundreds of emails to the endless Slack messages that you'll need to catch up with. As a result, we find ourselves sneaking a peek ever so often in a bid to lessen the inevitable returning workload.
While Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates predicts AI will replace humans for most things in the future, most organizations and executives are leveraging its technology to boost productivity. Dropbox's chief people officer (CPO), Melanie Rosenwasser, says that most people don't go on vacation to avoid missing out on important things at work, but with the emergence of AI, this has since changed. "These tools remove some of that guilt," she added.
Finally, AI-powered tools like Microsoft's Copilot are helping professionals become more productive while simultaneously reducing the time they would have otherwise wasted handling redundant tasks by automating them.
Johnson & Johnson's CLO (Chief Learning Officer), Sandra Humbles, told Bloomberg that Microsoft Copilot helped her create firm boundaries at work. As a result, “I’ve got 30% of my time back.”
She says the AI chatbot has helped her automate tasks like email triage and project planning. The executive indicated that the integration of AI into her workflow allows her to completely unplug from work during weekends and time off.
Interestingly, this report comes a little over a year after a separate report claimed that no one is really using AI tools, further suggesting that AI hype is being misconstrued for actual interest.
It'll be interesting to see if more organizations and executives hop onto the AI bandwagon and integrate the technology into their workflows. However, the broad adoption of AI at work is raising job security concerns.
