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Roula Khalaf, editor of the FT, picks her favorite stories on this weekly newsletter.
I had a sensitive work conversation coming up, so I did what any normal person would do: I postponed it. I picked up the phone. I put it down.
I set a deadline for myself: after my vacation, then after the weekend.
I'm hardly alone. A survey found that half of respondents spent seven days or more avoiding sensitive conversations. Instead, they complained and ruminated—all wasteful activities that prevented them from doing their jobs.
My procrastination became a part-time job in itself. I wrote and rewrote an email asking for an in-person conversation, a phone call, or by no means. With each move, my tone became more moany and passive-aggressive.
At night I nervous that each one those letters lurking in my drafts folder might escape and in some way find their strategy to the intended recipient – although I had triple-checked that I hadn't entered their email address. How much havoc would such draft news wreak on corporate life in the event that they were ever published? Such private complaints about imagined slights, small and huge injustices, and expressions of envy and anger are personal archives of official politics.
The longer this went on, the more severe I felt and stewed in my little puddle of petty resentment. It was clear I used to be getting nowhere fast, so I searched for the least judgmental aid I could: ChatGPT.
The first attempt was terrible – the AI's paraphrasing of my offended email made me sound like a Panglossian idiot. But after several attempts, my co-pilot and I discovered the suitable tone and deleted my emails filled with negativity and fear. I sent it and held my breath. I received a positive response inside minutes, which led to a superb and constructive conversation.
Valerie Mocker, CEO of Wing Women, a training company, turns to generative AI when she's drained or facing a difficult negotiation. Dealing with aggressive people, she notes with understatement, “really drains my energy.” Recently, Google's Gemini asked her to write down a response to a difficult correspondent. “It acknowledged the opposite person’s feelings and…” . . “It saved me quite a lot of time,” she told me. Of course, like me, she reviewed and edited it. Meredith Broussard, NYU professor and creator of , points out that “the AI 'voice' is more formal and mediocre than most humans. “So should you use an AI-generated script with none serious editing, people probably won’t take you seriously.”
That a silly machine turned out to be more emotionally adept than me, an actual human, seems improper. After all, aren’t emotions humanity’s X-factor in a robot takeover? It's more complicated. A current one study found that chatbots generated higher “quality and more empathetic answers to patient questions” than doctors. Of course, the chatbots didn't come out of nowhere, but relied on the expertise of doctors. But such soft skills are acquired through rehearsed dialogues. A physician wrote within the New York Times that “the reality is that ready-made scripts have all the time been deeply woven into the material of society.” Whether greeting, prayer, romance or politics, every aspect of life has its do's and don'ts. Scripts – what you may call “manners” or “conventions” – grease the wheels of society.”
Productivity claims within the name of AI concentrate on how much time such tools save employees by providing templates for stylish and clear language. Consulting firm Cognizant said a trial of Microsoft Copilot reduced the time employees spent on email by 10 percent.
But what about on a regular basis saved by ruminating? If I had embraced generative AI sooner, I might have wasted less time tinkering with an exchange.
In a recent article, Cal Newport, creator of , said that much discussion about authors' use of generative AI focused on plagiarism. Although this represents a big risk, he wanted to take a look at the advantages. As Newport talked to scientists and experimented himself, he found that it “provided starting points: interesting research ideas to explore; mediocre paragraphs that, with enough editing, might grow to be usable.”
He concluded: “Despite all of the inefficiencies, this indirect approach felt easier than looking at a blank page; “Talking” to the chatbot concerning the article was more fun than toiling away in quiet isolation. . . ChatGPT isn’t a lot about writing for you because it is about making a mental state that helps you write higher.”
Procrastination and rumination are a bane of office life – don't be afraid to ask for help.
