Executive Summary
As artificial intelligence (AI) tools become increasingly prevalent, many people are grappling with how to incorporate them into their workflows. Unfortunately, we’re starting to see more and more people complain about the work that AI is doing, often because they are simply asking for the raw results without proper oversight.
If we want to harness the power of AI responsibly and effectively, we must move beyond this fundamental mistake. The key lies in understanding two crucial concepts: advocating against “AI Slop” and mastering the “art of delegation”.
1. The Ethical Imperative: Advocating Against AI Slop
The term “AI Slop” refers to poor-quality, unedited, or thoughtlessly submitted machine-generated content. When I encounter, especially as the demand increases for “ethical AI” practices, I have found that the most ethical thing we can do is advocate against AI Slop in organizations the moment we spot it.
This advocacy requires human judgment and contribution, and that’s the role of leaders who are implementing AI. You just don’t evangelize “adopt AI or die,” but instead get engaged and witness how it shows up in applied knowledge.
For instance, when submissions are made, the contributor must provide their human take on the output, rather than simply stating, “Here’s what AI said”. Submissions that lack this essential human perspective are unacceptable.
To ensure quality, we must demand more than just automated results; we must insist on human interpretation and input.
2. The Art of Delegation: Viewing AI as an Employee
The rush to adopt AI has led to a loss of appreciation for the concept of delegation. People who are merely asking for AI results are often making a fundamental mistake.
To correct this, we need to completely shift our perspective: we should look at our suite of AI tools as employees in an organization. Just like any employee, AI tools require careful management and oversight if they are to perform effectively.
You need rigor.
When managers lose sight of this, they end up wasting everyone’s time. This occurs particularly when people are seeking results from AI in the exact same way that humans were doing the job, but they fail to implement necessary oversight.
If we treat AI as delegated employees and provide the necessary oversight, coupled with a required human take on the output, we can avoid the pitfalls of AI Slop and start leveraging these tools to their full potential.
