My Boss Is Shoving AI Down Our Throats. What Do I Do?

Welcome to the first installment of Pretty Good Advice from Current's very own advice columnist. Send your queries in, and PGA will give it to you straight.

Dear Pretty Good Advice,

As someone who works in tech, I've been lucky enough so far to avoid the genAI slop craze. But now, the execs at my company are looking for every opportunity to force this hallucinating, polluting, annoying platform into our daily work. Meanwhile, my coworkers are either supportive of the change or reacting with a collective shrug, and it's not great for my mental health, to say the least.

Should I just suck it up and hope this all recedes once the AI bubble pops? Should I try to convince my coworkers to oppose this crap? Or is there some other solution here?

— Butlerian in Berkeley

Dear Butlerian in Berkeley, 

Firstly, my sincerest sympathies. What is worse than feeling AI-induced existential dread? Well, feeling AI existential dread all by your lonesome (though, I can assure you, you are not alone. And in fact, you’re in very good company). The “collective” shrug you speak of sends shudders down my spine — I’d (almost) prefer enthusiastically consenting to AI rather than neutrality. In the face of a robot-takeover, feel something, please! 

I have a few questions for you. You say that the introduction of AI into your workplace, and your coworkers’ apathy is “not great for your mental health,” which, by the way, makes total and complete sense. I’m curious to hear more. How does your day-to-day at work feel different? What, specifically, is feeling worse? Using AI or feeling alone in your righteous opposition? Or perhaps, both are equally debilitating, just in different ways? These questions are worth answering.

I will tell you I will basically never tell you to just “suck it up.” When we feel out of sorts — at home, the workplace, in relationships — it’s important to address it directly. Otherwise (in my experience as both a human and a therapist) the feelings fester, leading us to feel out of whack in other perceptible and imperceptible ways. 

I’m thinking about approaching your conundrum on three different levels: the individual, the interpersonal, and the collective. Let’s begin with the individual. I wonder about small acts of resistance and rejuvenation you can engage in as you. As you weather this, reconnect to what you enjoy about your work — AI is most certainly and understandably coloring it. But what would it be like to get back in touch with the parts that do feel meaningful and engaging? Or perhaps you make a commitment to yourself to de-tech your evenings, swap screens for sunsets. (I fear these sound like responses from a “higher up” but I do believe there’s something there).

I’m also imagining ways you can undermine the push for AI in your workplace. Maybe they tell you to use the AI in this or that way, but you keep it old school. Your job security is important, so only you’ll know how far you can go with this one, but I say have fun being a little bit obstructionist, a little bit rebellious. Throwing a wrench in the works can be quite exhilarating!

Have fun being a little bit obstructionist, a little bit rebellious. Throwing a wrench in the works can be quite exhilarating!

I recognize, however, that it’s scary to swim upstream, particularly alone. That makes me wonder about your work relationships. You do not have anti-AI allies as far as we know, but do you have any colleagues who you relate to (think on a scale of tolerate → admire). Does anyone fall along these lines? I’d start talking to these coworkers, see if you can get to know anyone a little better. Find out what your coworkers care about. Perhaps there’s some point of dissatisfaction you can connect with your colleagues on, even if it’s as small as their dislike for the token office snacks (the Sunchips are no longer cutting it). These budding bonds can serve three important purposes. Firstly, maybe you can find some overlapping gripe, leading to solidarity through commiseration (a powerful force!). For example, your coworkers aren’t concerned with the “genAI slop craze,” but they may be nursing a secret hatred for the person rolling it out. Secondly, you can begin to get a sense of who, down the line, may turn their concerns from Sunchip saturation to AI aggrievement. Thirdly, when people feel connected, they may be more receptive to hearing and in turn, appreciating your concerns. Even if your coworkers don’t totally get it, there may be some relief in, at the very least, being listened to. There may be more to the “collective shrug” than meets the eye, like fear of speaking out, overwhelm with other aspects of life, or a miscalculation that it’d be a lonely fight. 

Now, we’ve arrived at collective action. After identifying the people in your corner, it’s time to organize the workplace, assemble the allies. As the old saying goes, strength in numbers. Of course, easier said than done. This is where we phone a friend, the friend in this case being The East Bay Workplace Organizing Committee, affectionately known as EBWOC. Check them out.

And if all else fails (which I don’t think it will), I encourage you to find people outside of work that are picking up what you’re putting down. Events like these and groups like these can assure you you’ve got people in your corner. We are all spent, but not so spent that we want robots doing our work — thinking, creating, imagining on our behalf. These acts are essential to living fully. So yes, we hope and pray, as you say, that the AI bubble pops in due time, but in the meantime, we can poke, poke, poke.

Over and out,
Pretty Good Advice