Guest commentary: The low-quality AI output that’s slowly killing your business

WATERLOO, Iowa – If this headline caught your eye, we must be on the same journey – discovering the true potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in our work while watching for pitfalls that can have the opposite effect. Enter “workslop.” 

I first heard this buzzword while listening to Morning Brew Daily. When I mentioned it to other leaders, most hadn’t heard the term but immediately knew what it described: LinkedIn posts sounding robotic, polished reports saying nothing, and emails making you wonder if your health care provider outsourced to ChatGPT. 

The term “workslop” was coined in a recent Harvard Business Review article, based on research from Stanford and BetterUp Labs, and defined as “AI-generated work content that masquerades as good work but lacks the substance to meaningfully advance a given task.” More than 40% of employees reported encountering workslop recently.  

Much like my reaction to pre-menopause symptoms, reading about workslop gave me a mix of recognition, frustration and a new-found obsession with diagnosing, treating and, ultimately, beating this condition –  one that not only prevents you from revolutionizing your health care business but also slowly destroys the trust and confidence your patients have in it. 

So, let’s WebMD this new workplace condition. 

Overview & Types 

What are different types of workslop? Common forms of workslop include: 

• AI-generated email responses sounding robotic or unclear. 
• Social media posts with buzzwords and emojis that lack real value.  
• Images loosely depicting your services but featuring uneasy hints of a fake background.  
• Reports from your team that initially look polished but fail to provide meaningful insights.  
• Bland articles making inaccurate claims about your services. 

And much more, depending on how AI is incorporated into your business. 

Symptoms 

Symptoms appear subtly at first but soon ripple across your organization.  

• Speed without substance – Work gets done faster but produces watered-down results. 
• Robot-speak – "Waffling,” or saying a lot but saying nothing at all. Content may technically be correct but lacks a real human voice. 
• Copy-paste creativity – Repeated phrases, visuals, or layouts suggest more prompting than thinking. 
• Surface-level success – Work looks impressive at first glance but quickly falls apart under review. 
• Disengaged teams – Staff lose pride in their output or hesitate to edit “AI work,” assuming the machine must be right. 
• Erosion of trust – Customers or patients begin to question whether your content, or even your care, is still human. 

When you start seeing those symptoms, workslop has already entered your business’s bloodstream. 

Causes 

One common cause is when business leaders rush to adopt AI without providing adequate training on how to use it thoughtfully. Another is allowing AI use without clear guidelines for what’s acceptable, leaving too much room for inconsistent or low-quality output. 

Risks 

Left untreated, workslop corrodes both culture and credibility. Employees who rely on accurate content will see productivity decline from constantly correcting work and may become resentful or start accepting subpar results. Externally, your brand can lose the trust it once held as authenticity fades. 

Treatment 

Your treatment plan depends on how much of an AI adopter you are, but it comes down to training, expectations and aligning technology with your mission. 

• Document your intentions. Define how and why you use AI tools, and what outcomes you expect. 
• Provide access and training. Give employees access, tools and training on prompting, reviewing and controlling outputs. 
• Establish clear guidelines. Outline acceptable use of AI and train teams to recognize quality work versus filler. 
• Align AI with purpose. Make sure AI tools support, not replace, critical human tasks your team performs daily. 

Support & resources 

Resources are available to support your health care business in each of these areas. Should we be leveraging AI to improve our businesses? Absolutely. But how we use it should be carefully constructed, with an understanding of how AI sees patterns and analyzes data, while humans provide meaning, context and compassion through critical thinking.  

When those strengths work together, patient care improves and employees feel empowered rather than replaced. 

The takeaway? Use AI. Just don’t take the thoughtful human out of the equation. 

Cassi Price is the president of VGM Forbin. Reach her at cassi.price@vgm.com.