Botsitting trend: The hidden AI workload that’s taking up employees’ time

AI is often marketed as a game-changer for productivity, promising to streamline repetitive tasks and free up employee time. However, a new trend suggests the reality may be more nuanced. This phenomenon, dubbed "botsitting," refers to the additional time employees spend reviewing, correcting, and refining AI-generated content before it can be utilized.

A study by AI platform developer Glean, which surveyed 6,000 digital workers in the US, UK, and Australia, found that 87% of respondents use AI for work, and 75% reported increased productivity, saving an average of 11 hours per week. Yet, over half of this saved time is reportedly allocated to botsitting activities. These include feeding AI tools with missing context, checking outputs, debugging mistakes, rerunning prompts, and cleaning up inaccurate but confident AI-generated answers.

Gurleen Baruah, an organizational psychologist, explains that while AI can generate content rapidly, humans still need to evaluate, filter, and correct the results. This sustained vigilance creates a new cognitive workload that can lead to mental fatigue and erode critical thinking skills. The risks of botsitting are multifaceted, ranging from poor-quality decisions and increased rework to reduced trust in AI outputs.

Moreover, this hidden workload consumes additional computing resources, raising environmental concerns. Experts recommend a balanced approach, where AI supports rather than replaces human thinking. This involves developing initial ideas independently before leveraging AI to refine and improve them, ensuring human judgment remains central to the process.

At an organizational level, successful AI integration requires clear accountability, quality standards, and comprehensive training for employees.