Is AI making your managers stupid?

The managerial paradox in AI checking

Omni Calculator surveyed 705 employed American adults who use AI for writing. It found 81% of executives and 78% of managers say AI has changed whether or how they send a message.

Both groups are roughly twice as likely as entry-level individual contributors, at 13%, to send a document specifically because AI confirmed it was ready, according to the report.

The report’s authors call the pattern a managerial paradox, noting AI checking is not limited to junior staff. They suggest it may reflect the volume of high-stakes communication leaders handle, such as performance reviews and messages to direct reports.

What the learning research shows

The first study in the Times analysis – by researchers from the University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine) and education company McGraw Hill – examined a decade of data from McGraw Hill’s online math platform, starting in 2015. The preprint covers 3.2 million learning interactions.

After ChatGPT launched in 2022, students spent sharply less time on text-based problems that could be pasted into a chatbot, and their scores on those problems rose. On proctored tests away from their computers, results fell below pre-AI levels, the Times reports.