Tech leaders reverse course on AI

Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke once told employees AI use was mandatory. Now he's warning them that unreviewed AI output, which he calls 'slop grenades,' creates more work for colleagues.

“We call those 'slop grenades' that people toss at each other. That's definitely a bad thing.”

The problem with AI-generated emails

Lütke said AI is turning brief emails into long, rambling messages that colleagues must review and fix. The tool is supposed to synthesize points, not create busywork.

“You're just letting AI do the work for you.”

Duolingo CEO admits AI scaling failed

Luis Von Ahn launched an AI-first strategy last year but found that when scaled, AI-generated content for language learning was 20% unusable slop that didn't match human creativity.

“20% of the things were just pure slop.”

Meet 'workslop'

Researchers coined the term for polished-looking AI output that actually needs revision. It looks legitimate but lacks useful components, like emails with broken links or overly complex code.

The real cost of workslop

A survey of 962 desk workers found 52.7% sent workslop and 38% received it, spending 3.4 hours monthly fixing it. For a 10,000-person company, that's nine million dollars in lost productivity annually.

Workslop damages trust at work

Employees who received workslop viewed senders as less competent and less friendly. Over a third said they wanted to avoid working with those colleagues in the future.