AI promised big productivity benefits, but workers aren’t happy with what they’ve seen so far

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• AI is definitely speeding up worker output, but it’s not necessarily boosting quality

• Workers feel that AI makes them feel more disconnected and lonely

• Companies need to consolidate fragmented tools and siloed data

While 86% of UK respondents say AI has made them more productive and capable, Miro’s latest State of Intelligent Collaboration report is questioning what ‘productive’ actually means, because fewer workers (57%) have seen improvements in organizational output quality.

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What the report hits on is that, while AI is undoubtedly making workers quicker at getting the job done, it doesn’t always translate into better work.

But the company chose not to slate the technology in favor of criticizing the way we’re working with it, noting that 71% of UK respondents use AI in private sessions rather than collaboratively.

AI is best when used as a team, Miro says

The report found workers are operating in a ‘single-player’ approach, which means that colleagues aren’t benefitting from shared context, knowledge or visibility, limiting AI’s efficacy to delivery organization-wide benefits.

To that tune, 28% of British respondents say increased AI use has made them feel more disconnected from their colleagues, and 18% now say work feels lonelier than it did before.

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“What this research points to is the growing need for a place where AI and people can collaborate together to make those critical decisions, instead of in fragmented and disjointed individual single-player tools,” Miro Product Evangelist Leader Dave Ross said.

To fix the problem, Miro suggests businesses should now start to invest in shared AI technologies by consolidating fragmented tools. The report also cites similar Gartner research which introduces the idea of ‘AI workhubs’ – approaches that connect fragmented tools and siloed data.

“With AI workhubs, teams and their agents have the context and shared understanding they need to make better decisions and turn decisions into faster execution and better outcomes,” Ross added.

All in all, businesses are under increased pressure to deliver ROI from their AI investments, and simply demonstrating the use of AI is no longer sufficient. With the battle to actually improve output now underway, Miro’s work stresses the importance of a clearer, organization-wide AI strategy.