Awareness is Key: Understanding the Impact of AI on Your Work

A new report from GoTo suggests that many workers are already questioning their relationship with AI. Half of employees say they rely on it more than they should, while 39% say using it too much is making them less intelligent. Another 30% say they feel like they couldn’t function at work without it.

However, the bigger question is whether workers are using AI to become more effective or allowing it to replace too much of the thinking that allows them to grow in their careers. As AI becomes a bigger part of the workplace, keeping your skills sharp may be just as important as learning how to use the technology.

Checking Your AI Use Regularly

Dan Schawbel, workplace researcher and managing partner at Workplace Intelligence, recommends setting aside time each week to review how you’re using AI. This ‘AI audit’ can help you determine whether the technology is helping you work more efficiently or whether you’re handing over tasks you should still be practicing yourself.

Ask yourself:

• Am I using AI to speed up repetitive work, or am I avoiding tasks that would help me build skills?
• Are there things I’ve stopped doing myself because AI can do them faster?
• Am I using AI to improve my work, or simply to get a finished product?

The difference matters. Using AI to catch typos in a report you wrote is very different from asking it to create the report from start to finish. One gives you a productivity boost, while the other can mean missing out on the experience and problem-solving that helps you grow professionally.

Doing the Hard Tasks Yourself First

One of the easiest ways to lose a skill is to stop using it entirely. Schawbel makes a similar point in his advice on using AI at work: don’t let the technology take over the parts of your job that help you grow and develop.

Whether it’s learning a new software program, managing a project, or writing more effectively, there’s usually some trial and error involved. You make mistakes, work through problems, and figure things out along the way.

Ai can remove a lot of that friction — which is exactly why it’s useful. But if it’s always doing the difficult part for you, you may be missing the experience that builds your skills.

Instead of asking AI for the answer right away, try taking the first pass yourself. Draft the email. Build the spreadsheet. Sketch out the presentation. Work through the analysis. Then use AI to review your work, suggest improvements, or point out things you may have missed.

Investing Time Saved in Yourself

One reason AI has caught on so quickly at work is that it can handle a lot of the smaller tasks that eat up the day. Research suggests that time savings can add up. In a field experiment involving more than 6,000 workers, researchers found that employees using generative AI tools spent less time on certain tasks, including email and document work.

But saving time only helps if workers use it well. Maybe that means finally learning a piece of software they’ve been putting off, taking on a project outside their usual responsibilities, or spending more time building relationships at work.

It doesn’t have to be a huge commitment, either. Setting aside an hour a week to learn something new or catch up on changes in your industry can make a difference over time.