AI is drowning us in ‘workslop’, and the real danger isn’t bad content, it’s bad thinking.
HBR unpacked this issue in an article this week that talks about workers “using AI tools to create low-effort, passable looking work that ends up creating more work for their coworkers”. The piece highlights how AI makes it effortless to churn out endless reports, summaries, and decks. On the surface, it looks like productivity. In reality, it risks becoming a flood of polished but shallow output, and worse, it encourages ‘cognitive offloading’, where workers (and leaders) start letting AI do the thinking for them.
That article made me think about the implications for directors.
As board software increasingly integrates AI tools, there’s a growing risk that directors fall into the same trap:
- Board papers that can be instantly summarised.
- Analysis that can be “auto-generated.”
- Decisions shaped by bullet points rather than judgment.
But governance depends on more than information management. Management must continue to deliver high-quality, insightful papers. And directors must resist the temptation to offload their own thinking and judgment onto AI, but to apply it more critically.
Here’s where AI can truly add value:
- By challenging director thinking - testing whether assumptions hold under pressure.
- By bringing in different perspectives - surfacing patterns from other industries, geographies, or timeframes that directors might overlook.
- By providing wider context - linking board decisions to shifts in technology, geopolitics, or consumer behaviour.
That’s the real opportunity: AI as a thought partner that deepens, not dilutes, boardroom judgment. And the organisational context engineering that Directors and senior leaders bring to AI helps drive real organisational value!
Efficiency must not come at the cost of rigour. And when used well, AI can make boards braver, sharper, and more imaginative.
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Photo credit: HBR
