What happened
Consulting firm Adaptavist surveyed white-collar knowledge workers and found that 65% of respondents often miss the days before AI became widespread.
The research also reveals a striking pattern: people spend more time fixing or cleaning up after AI than the time the technology actually saves them.
Why it matters
If knowledge workers are spending more hours correcting AI outputs than they gain from automation, the promised productivity boost from AI may be largely illusory in everyday office work.
This sentiment could push organizations to rethink how they deploy AI tools, perhaps favoring narrower, better-supervised applications rather than broad adoption.
Key facts
The survey was conducted by consulting firm Adaptavist and targeted white-collar knowledge workers.
65% of respondents said they frequently miss the time before AI was widespread.
The study found that cleanup work after AI takes more time than what AI saves.
What to watch next
Watch whether companies start measuring the hidden costs of AI, such as employee time spent reviewing and correcting outputs, before expanding AI initiatives.
Future versions of AI tools may need to focus on reducing errors and easing cleanup to win back skeptical workers.