Why ChatGPT Productivity Feels Different Than Expected!

Speed went up but so did the responsibilities.

Author

Glenda Carnate
January 30, 2026

Read time: 2.5 minutes

Yes, AI may have increased productivity, but it did not reduce the effort required.

Initially, you are amazed by how quickly drafts are created, how quickly code gets written and how easily summaries become available to you. Your tasks are completed quicker than you ever thought possible, leaving you to think, "This is so great, this is a good leverage."

Then reality begins to set in. You find yourself constantly checking facts and verifying the accuracy of logic. You find yourself rerunning examples and reviewing the output multiple times because they don't seem correct to you. Congratulations! You have become the Head of Quality Assurance without any extra resources or a corresponding increase in your efforts.

Tips to Stay Out of Full-Time QA AI Work:

1. The Generative AI output is a draft, not the final deliverable.

Use it as if there’s a new hire that has no experience, is confident and moves quickly while missing the mark enough to be significant.


2. Reviewing output is work.

Moving faster without trust in the accuracy of the review shifts your labor to that of checking and correcting.


3. Responsibility still exists and is now concentrated with one person.

Someone still has to own the mistake, and that person is you.


4. There are many tasks that are not impacted equally by AI.

When verifying an output costs more than creating it, automated tasks are a mistake.


5. Productivity created by the use of AI should include the costs of errors.

If the cost of errors continues to increase, simply looking at the productivity by throughput will not provide a true measure of productivity.

💡Key Takeaway: 

The use of AI, through the automation of work, did not eliminate you... it made you liable. When measuring true productivity, it is better to look at the risks associated with the work rather than just looking for the fastest completion of work.

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