Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Speed of changes re AI at work

76 replies

Bunnycat101 · 09/08/2025 08:18

Has anyone else suddenly found their workplace is moving really fast on AI? I feel like I’ve almost been in a mini revolution. 3
months ago it was quite sporadic use with people using copilot as an extended search engine. Now, everyone is using it all the time to help draft content, write emails, get advice etc. The speed of change has been really interesting to me. Culturally there used to be a hesitancy at first that you might be cheating by getting copilot to write a letter or a briefing note whereas now it’s normal practice to use it at least in part. Notes are all done via transcription. I worry that junior roles look pretty vulnerable already. The things that I’d have got a new grad to do like minute taking, summarising documents can be replaced very easily by AI. My own skill set feels under threat as well.

AIBU to ask if others have found the same in their organisations? My other worry is that the school curriculum has not adapted at all. The world of work seems to be changing very rapidly and we’re still drilling 10 year olds on fronted adverbials or setting exams that are based on recall of facts.

OP posts:
StrictlyAFemaleFemale · 09/08/2025 08:25

YANBU. I've had to make a conscious effort to write my own journal because it was just getting too easy to get copilot to do it. I work in my second language and if I don't keep practising it I'll lose it.

I do use it in my volunteer work though.

LastKnownSurvivor · 09/08/2025 08:27

My workplace is the same. But at the moment, you can't rely entirely on AI to do things like produce meeting minutes, because it gets things wrong. It generally makes a lot of assumptions - like you've been a key player in a project because it's found an email you were copied in on along with 50 other people and barely even read. AI is a champion bullshitter if you ask it to summarise your achievements for your upcoming performance review 😄

I think we are moving towards a culture where your skills at using AI - prompting and so on, will be valuable.

Ultimately, you still need to be able to tell AI what it needs to do, and be able to refine its outputs.

MrsBennetsPoorNerves · 09/08/2025 08:35

I agree that AI prompting skills will be key going forwards. This is why I'm experimenting a lot at the moment to learn.

Our work policy doesn't allow the use of ChatGPT at the moment, only the licensed version of copilot. Copilot has its uses but I don't find it brilliant. I've subscribed to the paid version of ChatGPT for personal stuff and I find it much better.

Amongst colleagues, there are definitely some who are using it, but I also see a lot of resistance/people who just don't want to have anything to do with it.

We will all be using it soon enough, so might as well start learning now as far as I can see.

MoggetsCollar · 09/08/2025 08:35

Education turns like a battleship. There isn't the money or capacity in the system for curriculum change. It's always at least a decade behind the requirements of the work-place.

GRex · 09/08/2025 08:36

Some things have speed up, but most workplaces I know have been chronically under-resourced for years, so it's more freeing up time to let people catch up at the moment.

I perceive it more to be a change, like websites. 28 years ago there were a handful. Now we are all on websites every day. The HTML coders aren't needed, but there are a raft of new content roles that didn't exist; even if AI writes some portions they still need to add the ideas and key talking points for value. We now have fewer shops, but loads of delivery drivers. We can search prices for better deals, complain quickly and find information - all backed by more pricing teams, complaints teams, engineering teams building AI chat assistants etc. Some changes feel good and some do not, such is the world, it changes and we will only see the full impact in hindsight.

I agree there will be impact on many roles, and change is often uncomfortable. I do wish the robot cleaners had taken off first instead of AI designers, but such is life. Embracing change rather than stressing is always the easier path.

Original poster
Bunnycat101 · 09/08/2025 08:36

I agree with the champion bullshitter bit. It’s often wrong but very confident it’s right. There is definitely something about not taking it at face value but I’ve been shocked by how quickly my work environment has changed. I think the biggest change in 20 years aside from the ability to wfh.

OP posts:
GRex · 09/08/2025 08:40

BTW does anyone else get really annoyed with how copilot apologises? I'm frequently saying "x is not true, do not include it" and it grovels like Gollum. Then includes the same incorrect information at its next opportunity.

peoplegetreadyforthetrain · 09/08/2025 08:41

It’s the same at my workplace OP. People who are usually quite resistant to change are very open to it which is interesting.

I find it a bit depressing actually, at our most recent team meeting people wanted to find ways to get copilot to do basically every element of our roles. Even the parts I find quite interesting, or which are so straightforward I don’t really see the point of getting AI to do them for me. I don’t find it a very appealing idea to go out to work to do literally no thinking and add zero value other than knowing the best way of telling a robot to do everything for me! Even though I may have to accept this is the way the world is going…

Withdjsns · 09/08/2025 08:43

Yeah in the last 3 months it’s suddenly expected to be used in all areas

HiddenRiver · 09/08/2025 09:09

I agree about the speed of if all at work. It’s scary.

I’m unsure about education and curriculum impact. Obviously the current system (like many things public sector doesn’t work for many) and we need to consider future jobs etc but I’m not sure what would replace these more traditional methods and fill the actually school day time? After all the education system serves (or did serve) as childcare whilst parents worked. But attendance is a problem and many work from home. With AI do we no longer need schools? Could teachers be made redundant? We have AI, tech, many are happy at home and don’t want to be in school? Gment has no money. I really don’t know what could happen with it all. But I think a lot could change.

I think it’s so important to learn to read and write and have critical thinking skills (I’m so glad I’m old enough to not have had any technology at school) but many don’t want to learn or do this and just want tech (so current teacher friends tell me.)

AI is too quick for us and I worry about jobs but will they roll out a universal income?

Saponarium · 09/08/2025 09:14

I kept forgetting to use it but in the past couple of weeks it's become a really core tool for doing my job. I use it all the time for drafting web copy and event planning. Work have been happy for us to use it.

FlyRedRobin · 09/08/2025 09:19

I use AI for my work but it does get things wrong quite often. I still need to use my brain to understand the solution it offers and tweak it myself. The trouble is when people use it without thinking critically.

I did 2 prompts for the same question the other day to ask chat GPT if I can eat this commonly used ingredient in my country while pregnant, one in English and one in my native language. The English one says avoid at all cost as its toxic. My native language one says it's fine as long as its cooked well, in fact it's beneficial for the baby.

At the end of the day, it's trained based on data available. You can't guarantee the source data is always correct.

Twelftytwo · 09/08/2025 09:27

Same here (public sector) and suddenly it's being used so much. And as a pp implied, not the people who you'd expect would naturally be "early adopters"!

The most techno phobe person on our team who has a Nokia type phone and is generally very traditional, has been there for years etc, is loving copilot!

daisychain01 · 09/08/2025 09:36

the one thing AI can't do is replicate us as humans in a meeting. You can create a slick polished report but it won't substitute being knowledgeable, articulate, confident, collaborative in meetings.

If we allow AI to erode our written and critical thinking skills, so that when we're in a meeting, we can't communicate and explain our rationale and add the depth of thought and analysis, then more fool us. We have the choice to master AI as our servant, not the other way round!

daisychain01 · 09/08/2025 09:39

Twelftytwo · 09/08/2025 09:27

Same here (public sector) and suddenly it's being used so much. And as a pp implied, not the people who you'd expect would naturally be "early adopters"!

The most techno phobe person on our team who has a Nokia type phone and is generally very traditional, has been there for years etc, is loving copilot!

Im also in a public sector role and I had to roll my eyes at someone who kept whipping out their phone and trying to use AI when we were doing a group activity. I didn't say anything, I just thought if you keep doing that and not at least trying to use your brain cells, you'll soon be out of a job!

UnaOfStormhold · 09/08/2025 09:44

I'm in the public sector here and there's a big push to use AI at the moment - it's handy for some tasks (meeting notes) but I find it really stifling of thought and creativity, as well as plain wrong an alarming amount of the time. Plus I think it's inevitable at some point a Minister is going to get egg on their face repeating an AI hallucination in parliament and there will be a big backlash! Whether at that point we still have the staff with the skills and capacity to check things properly remains to be seen...

DarkForces · 09/08/2025 09:46

I use copilot a lot in my work. It's definitely a champion bullshitter and reminds me of a teenager who cannot possibly say 'I don't know' 😂. It's made me loads more efficient though. Ultimately it's a copilot, it needs a human to steer it and actually pilot. We're a long way off being able to trust it to make a decision but it could, for instance, be a second pair of eyes on a scan or write the first draft of a code for a programmer. I say it a lot but it's just really big maths. It can't actually understand interactions and subtleties in the way a human can.

Timeforabitofpeace · 09/08/2025 09:55

peoplegetreadyforthetrain · 09/08/2025 08:41

It’s the same at my workplace OP. People who are usually quite resistant to change are very open to it which is interesting.

I find it a bit depressing actually, at our most recent team meeting people wanted to find ways to get copilot to do basically every element of our roles. Even the parts I find quite interesting, or which are so straightforward I don’t really see the point of getting AI to do them for me. I don’t find it a very appealing idea to go out to work to do literally no thinking and add zero value other than knowing the best way of telling a robot to do everything for me! Even though I may have to accept this is the way the world is going…

That doesn’t surprise me. There’ll be a range of reasons. However I know of at least one over promoted manager (generally acknowledged to be a bit useless) who started using it for everything, and her own manager now thinks she’s amazing and incredibly productive.

Pairymoppins · 09/08/2025 09:56

Personally I am wary. I mark assignments (of a practical rather than academic kind) and in the last six months more and more students are using it for everything. The kind of bland vacuous prose it usually produces is very dispiriting. I can’t help fearing for the future of a young person who can’t write a response to something like ‘ explain what you did in this situation…’ or ‘how have you used x to help you with y…’ without asking ChatGPT to have ideas for them .
Personally I’m thankful that the education system changes slowly. I’d like to keep it as old skool as possible until we learn what we need to about this stuff. If kids don’t spend their school years memorising facts for their own sake, writing stories from their own brains, calculating with numbers using pen and paper … what will happen to their cognitive development?

Slimtoddy · 09/08/2025 09:57

Wouldn't it be good if it meant the work week was reduced to 3 or 4 days. How long is it since the work week was reduced to 5. I guess I could ask AI..

I remember when email was introduced in the workplace and it increased workload I think. And it made typing pools obsolete. Before email people really had to think about whether a memo was needed. Now everything is written on email or similar channels. I think we have lost our ability to communicate effectively.

AI is not very reliable but if used well it can be a support.

DarkForces · 09/08/2025 09:58

Whilst I am a massive fan I do wonder if one day there'll be so much ai generated content out there it'll end up learning from itself and amplifying its own hallucinations

Mousehi · 09/08/2025 10:00

I think it'll slow down again. People are already saying at work how annoying they find the constant copilot asks of assistance.

What I don't understand is that if everyone uses AI to Google and therefore websites are obsolete and content on any website becomes AI, videos, images are all AI, will AI just cancel out the Internet and then itself?

Original poster
Bunnycat101 · 09/08/2025 10:09

Mousehi · 09/08/2025 10:00

I think it'll slow down again. People are already saying at work how annoying they find the constant copilot asks of assistance.

What I don't understand is that if everyone uses AI to Google and therefore websites are obsolete and content on any website becomes AI, videos, images are all AI, will AI just cancel out the Internet and then itself?

I think the last point is interesting too. We’ve had lots of discussions at work about how to get our content higher up in the AI algorithms. It’s really noticeable that web traffic is dropping and people aren’t engaging with primary content but the AI summaries instead. On the one hand that makes info more accessible for people but it also makes it harder to assess quality of sources etc.

OP posts:
TheStateofRoads · 09/08/2025 10:13

I love AI but I've seen people present some first draft of whatever AI has spewed out without interrogation to fine tune things and without adding any editing to bring properly in line with existing information.
It's making some people lazy.