The secret to avoiding 'AI slop' — let workers 'job craft' their own roles around AI tools, researchers say (www.businessinsider.com)

A study by AI upskilling platform Multiverse (June–July, 295 UK full‑time professionals across finance, government, and tech who’d used generative AI for ≥6 months) finds that employees who "job craft"—actively redesign tasks and workflows to integrate AI—report higher engagement, motivation and creativity than those who use AI passively. Multiverse frames "AI slop" (low‑effort, generic outputs produced by copy‑pasting AI responses) as a symptom of disengagement rather than a flaw in models; job crafters catch errors, question AI logic, and produce higher‑quality work, showing increases in absorption, dedication and vigor. For the AI/ML community and enterprise adopters, the takeaways are practical: human-AI performance depends on intent, training and role design, not just model quality. Multiverse recommends embedding AI training in broader change management, giving workers agency and safe experimentation guardrails, and measuring outcomes (productivity, engagement) rather than behaviors. The findings also challenge narratives that AI inherently reduces cognition—when used intentionally, tools can provoke deeper analysis and process improvements (e.g., using AI to surface trends or build firmwide assistants). Product designers, HR leaders and ML teams should therefore prioritize tooling, interfaces and workflows that encourage critical collaboration and human oversight to curb “AI slop” and scale real value.