Why hasn’t workplace artificial intelligence made life easier for everyone? Some surveys see a vast majority of employees saying AI adds to their workload, for a variety of reasons (having to check what the AI does, having bosses who expect increased output). And the extra stress of AI adoption is often worse for women, says leadership consultant Julie Donley.
Why? Because AI is often oriented toward things men tend to focus on (like maximizing efficiency at all costs) and not the jobs that fall much more on women (for example, the emotional labor of office politics, and the running of both work and home lives). Because women are rightfully more worried about being judged by office culture — for using AI (“did I cheat?”) but also for not using it (“do I look like I’m not keeping up?”). Because the sped-up expectations that AI can create put even more pressure on women at work, even as they still do more than their share at home.
I spoke with Donley about these and other ways AI adoption can make for more burnout and exhaustion among women workers. But this isn’t a gloomy conversation. She believes AI can be made to work for us all, if it’s adopted in a way that fosters human flourishing. We talked about her new book, Leading at the Speed of People, in which she discusses how leaders can shape AI to make work more humane, not less. Give us a listen!
As always, please note the transcript is AI generated and could contain mistakes.
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