AI's grand promise: Less drudgery, more complexity, same (or lower) pay
(2026/01/06)
- Reference: 1767691806
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2026/01/06/ai_could_damage_your_health/
- Source link:
A report on occupational health warns that AI adoption may paradoxically increase workplace burdens rather than reduce them. As AI automates routine tasks, workers will shoulder new responsibilities: overseeing AI systems, catching their errors, and managing the resulting complexity – potentially triggering mental health pressures.
Researchers from Imperial College London and Microsoft argue the real impact won't be mass job replacement, but a fundamental shift in work demands. Human roles will evolve from performing tasks to stewarding AI agents across workflows, including briefing them, reviewing outputs, and correcting errors.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella becomes AI influencer, asks us all to move beyond slop [1]READ MORE
"As AI absorbs routine tasks, human roles may shift toward stewardship, problem-solving, or emotional labor, all with their own psychological demands," said Dr Lara Shemtob, who led the research [2]published in the Society of Occupational Medicine's (SOM) journal Occupational Medicine.
This effectively transforms workers into managers of AI systems – a role not everyone is suited for. The report warns AI may "paradoxically increase the knowledge worker's burden of handling complex tasks while simultaneously exerting downward pressure on compensation." This means more responsibility and less pay, because AI supposedly makes work "easier."
All of this could introduce novel occupational hazards, some familiar in form but different in scale and complexity, raising stress levels.
[3]
Evidence already supports this concern. A 2024 study found AI coding tools actually [4]slowed developers down due to time spent checking and correcting AI-generated errors. As AI systems become more autonomous, problems like " [5]hallucinations " (false or inaccurate outputs) may escalate and become harder to detect.
[6]
[7]
Until now, much of the debate over AI has centred on the extent to which it will (or [8]maybe won't ) replace people's jobs.
[9]AI faces closing time at the cash buffet
[10]One real reason AI isn't delivering: Meatbags in manglement
[11]British Airways fears a future where AI agents pick flights and brands get ghosted
[12]Salesforce willing to lose money on AI agent licenses when customers are locked in
The report urges quantifying AI supervision demands and building them into job descriptions to avoid hidden workloads that negate automation benefits.
Researchers don't yet know the exact impact on human employees from having to work more closely with AI, the report concludes, but they say occupational health should be part of the dialog and analysis of how AI changes expectations of workers.
Whether this scenario materializes remains uncertain. Recent reports show companies have [13]invested tens of billions in generative AI with little return , and many projects fail due to [14]underestimated deployment complexity .
[15]
The question isn't just how AI will change work, it's whether widespread adoption will happen at all. ®
Get our [16]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/02/microsoft_ceo_satya_nadella_calls/
[2] https://academic.oup.com/occmed/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/occmed/kqaf123
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aVzrTRDWmm5mFOdf0fzMUwAAA4o&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/11/ai_code_tools_slow_down/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/12/ai_code_suggestions_sabotage_supply_chain/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aVzrTRDWmm5mFOdf0fzMUwAAA4o&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aVzrTRDWmm5mFOdf0fzMUwAAA4o&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/29/forrester_ai_rehiring/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/24/ai_spending_cooling_off/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/24/reason_ai_isnt_delivering/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/13/british_airways_fears_a_future/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/15/salesforce_ai_monetization/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/18/generative_ai_zero_return_95_percent/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/13/survey_ai_projects_failure_no_prepare/
[15] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aVzrTRDWmm5mFOdf0fzMUwAAA4o&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Researchers from Imperial College London and Microsoft argue the real impact won't be mass job replacement, but a fundamental shift in work demands. Human roles will evolve from performing tasks to stewarding AI agents across workflows, including briefing them, reviewing outputs, and correcting errors.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella becomes AI influencer, asks us all to move beyond slop [1]READ MORE
"As AI absorbs routine tasks, human roles may shift toward stewardship, problem-solving, or emotional labor, all with their own psychological demands," said Dr Lara Shemtob, who led the research [2]published in the Society of Occupational Medicine's (SOM) journal Occupational Medicine.
This effectively transforms workers into managers of AI systems – a role not everyone is suited for. The report warns AI may "paradoxically increase the knowledge worker's burden of handling complex tasks while simultaneously exerting downward pressure on compensation." This means more responsibility and less pay, because AI supposedly makes work "easier."
All of this could introduce novel occupational hazards, some familiar in form but different in scale and complexity, raising stress levels.
[3]
Evidence already supports this concern. A 2024 study found AI coding tools actually [4]slowed developers down due to time spent checking and correcting AI-generated errors. As AI systems become more autonomous, problems like " [5]hallucinations " (false or inaccurate outputs) may escalate and become harder to detect.
[6]
[7]
Until now, much of the debate over AI has centred on the extent to which it will (or [8]maybe won't ) replace people's jobs.
[9]AI faces closing time at the cash buffet
[10]One real reason AI isn't delivering: Meatbags in manglement
[11]British Airways fears a future where AI agents pick flights and brands get ghosted
[12]Salesforce willing to lose money on AI agent licenses when customers are locked in
The report urges quantifying AI supervision demands and building them into job descriptions to avoid hidden workloads that negate automation benefits.
Researchers don't yet know the exact impact on human employees from having to work more closely with AI, the report concludes, but they say occupational health should be part of the dialog and analysis of how AI changes expectations of workers.
Whether this scenario materializes remains uncertain. Recent reports show companies have [13]invested tens of billions in generative AI with little return , and many projects fail due to [14]underestimated deployment complexity .
[15]
The question isn't just how AI will change work, it's whether widespread adoption will happen at all. ®
Get our [16]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/02/microsoft_ceo_satya_nadella_calls/
[2] https://academic.oup.com/occmed/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/occmed/kqaf123
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aVzrTRDWmm5mFOdf0fzMUwAAA4o&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/11/ai_code_tools_slow_down/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/12/ai_code_suggestions_sabotage_supply_chain/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aVzrTRDWmm5mFOdf0fzMUwAAA4o&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aVzrTRDWmm5mFOdf0fzMUwAAA4o&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/29/forrester_ai_rehiring/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/24/ai_spending_cooling_off/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/24/reason_ai_isnt_delivering/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/13/british_airways_fears_a_future/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/15/salesforce_ai_monetization/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/18/generative_ai_zero_return_95_percent/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/13/survey_ai_projects_failure_no_prepare/
[15] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aVzrTRDWmm5mFOdf0fzMUwAAA4o&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Rational
Pascal Monett
That concept is sooo last millenium.
These days, it's all about paying insane costs for "Cloud TM " and bragging about "AI integration".
Don't worry. The Board will soon realize that they can't give themselves their usual bonuses because their "AI"-integrated business is not making enough money for that anymore, so they will adapt.
How many workers will be laid off in the meantime is another issue . . .
Doctor Syntax
"This effectively transforms workers into managers of AI systems – a role not everyone is suited for."
If the rationale for adopting Dunning-Kruger machines is to lay off the workers then it will be the managers who are now the managers of AI systems, also a role they're probably not suited for.
So, instead of doing drudge work, the same amount of workers will spend the same or more time reviewing AI-generated drudge work.
But... if that's the outcome, why the hell would an organization deploy AI in those roles? What's the ROI, where's the benefit?
Besides satisfying investors' AI-FOMO, I mean. The capitalism algorithm is meant to work with rational actors...