AI in the enterprise: productivity gains don't tell the whole story

Summary

The author analyses the hidden effects of generative AI on work in companies, using a fictional example of an eight-person HR department in a company of 600 employees that adopts AI to write job descriptions and training materials. He introduces two notions: "the carried gap", the additional work of checking and correcting that is not included in the expected gains, and "the erasure of a useful load", the gradual disappearance of useful activities such as informal exchanges with employees. The author calls on managers to include this invisible work when assessing transformations, to identify the activities that are fading away, and to decide explicitly what should be maintained or transformed.

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