A new report from Microsoft acknowledges the burden that technology has placed on many information workers — describing a growing “digital debt” in which the volume of communication has drowned out much of the focused concentration required for creativity on the job.
If you spend more time sifting through emails than thinking big thoughts, you’re part of the trend.
The solution? More technology, the company says.
Microsoft makes that assertion in its new Work Trend Index 2023 Annual Report, released Tuesday morning.
“This new generation of AI will remove the drudgery of work and unleash creativity,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says in the introduction to the report. “There’s an enormous opportunity for AI-powered tools to help alleviate digital debt, build AI aptitude, and empower employees.”
The position puts Microsoft at odds with the growing sentiment that technology is creating an endless and ultimately fruitless quest for productivity, taking us further away from our humanity, as described in the 2020 book, “Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving,” by Celeste Headlee.
Along with the new report, Microsoft announced that it is expanding access to its Microsoft 365 Copilot technology, which provides AI-based assistance inside the company’s core productivity applications, as a key extension of its partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI.
Testing the theory of AI doing the heavy lifting, I asked Microsoft’s Bing AI chatbot to give me the key takeaways from Microsoft’s summary of the company’s 29-page Work Trend Index report. Here is the result.
The current web page context is about the Work Trend Index Annual Report by Microsoft. The report is based on a survey of 31,000 people in 31 countries and analyzed trillions of Microsoft 365 productivity signals, along with labor trends from the LinkedIn Economic Graph. The report points to three urgent insights business leaders must know as they look to quickly and responsibly adopt AI:
- Digital debt is costing us innovation.
- There’s a new AI-employee alliance.
- Every employee needs AI aptitude.
The report suggests that AI can help lift the burden of digital debt and free us from it. Organizations that embrace AI will unleash creativity and unlock productivity for everyone—ushering in a new wave of productivity growth and value creation. The report also suggests that next-generation copilots will work alongside people, fueling innovation and removing the drudgery of work. The report concludes that there’s an enormous opportunity for AI-powered tools to help alleviate digital debt, build AI aptitude, and empower employees.
Guess I’m done here. Back to checking email.
