This AI hype is enough to drive you to drink, lose sleep

Employees working with AI software to complete tasks at work are more likely to feel lonely, which can drive them to insomnia and drinking, according to a paper published by the American Psychological Association. A team of researchers hypothesized that ML tools could make workers more socially isolated – if they spend more …

[Little Mouse]

Zzzzz - And the AI angle is???

Some run of the mill social science that is not exactly ground-breaking. So shoehorn "AI" in, no matter how tenuously - Interesting!

Except everyone is doing it. It's not worth the column inches.

Please make it stop. It's only "AI Hype" because it keeps getting hyped up.

[Joe W]

Real reason for substance abuse?

I find that two things make my more technology oriented colleagues and me drink.

1. The overhype and overexpectance by management (and it will cure dandruff as well!), like with anything "new", especially if it is not new.

2. The inability and unwillingness to really understand the actual needs for implementing things or constraints put up by actual science (you cannot do things this way - maths tells you so, or you cannot distinguish 16 different colours in a graph and expect the colours to sort of align with the corporate design and be accessible, or you cannot really train a model on data if you cannot classify the data you have now).

I need the weekend. And it is only Tuesday...

[tiggity]

Some of us thrive on little interaction with colleagues

People "on the spectrum" are probably over represented in IT compared to many other professions.

Its the meetings, interactions with others, interruptions, changing goalposts that cause me a lot more stress than quietly getting on with some work on my own does

[Cybersaber]

Re: Some of us thrive on little interaction with colleagues

Agree with most everything you wrote except the quotes around "on the spectrum."

ASD diagnosis is well-accepted in psychological diagnostic circles. Sure, the edges of the boundaries of what is and isn't ASD are less well defined, but the same could be said for 'visible light.' Individual perceptions may vary where, for example the exact line between visible red and invisible infra-red start. That doesn't change the fact that there is a range of light that is considered 'visible' and anything on either side of that spectrum is 'invisible.'

I'm sure you didn't mean anything untoward. Just please don't use quotes around that phrase, as it implies that the speaker/writer doubts something, and is merely relaying the words of others.

[frankvw]

Chicken? Egg?

"Humans are social animals, and isolating work with AI systems may have damaging spillover effects into employees' personal lives."

Hm. Are you sure we're not confusing cause and effect here? Perhaps people who already feel lonely and isolated feel that way because of pre-existing social issues, and therefore they turn to AI rather than their peers (or other actual humans) for help in answering questions and completing tasks, rather than the other way around.

Just sayin'.

[Timop]

Re: Chicken? Egg?

I have understood that research about isolation has more than enough proof that loneliness is root cause for multiple issues. Including observable physical changes in the brain that probably affects behaviour.

But if you prefer to work in solitude (your boss just got the AI memo?) there should not be at least much ill effects.

[vtcodger]

Methodology

Did the researchers use AI to prepare this report? Did they feel the need for a drink or three after doing so? Did they finalize the report before or after a few stiff ones?

[Michael Wojcik]

Conversely

I don't drink, so it's impossible for me to be lonely.