AI Is Making Corporate Work Busier, Not Better

WASHINGTON — generative artificial intelligence was initially promoted as a breakthrough for workplace efficiency. Across American businesses, however, its corporate rollout is creating organizational clutter and administrative noise.

Psychological research into decision fatigue shows that continuous minor choices exhaust executive mental bandwidth, reducing the capacity available for complex analytical work. Data cited by the authors from Harvard University research on attention tracking reveals that people spend roughly half of their waking hours—outside sleep and direct job tasks—thinking about subjects unrelated to their immediate activity. In a standard 168-hour week, work and sleep account for 90 to 100 hours, leaving individuals with full cognitive control over only about one-sixth of their total time.

The availability of automated writing and presentation tools has lowered the barrier to content creation. Employees are producing more low-value pitch decks, verbose emails, and automated memos, creating what management experts and enterprise leaders call a “false productivity trap”: higher volumes of digital artifacts that generate motion without advancing core business objectives.

“`
[CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS OVERLOAD]
│
┌────────────────────────┴────────────────────────┐
▼ ▼
Internal Friction External Volume
• AI-generated decks • Multiplied sales pitches
• Verbose memos & emails • Automated outreach
• Excessive status meetings • Unfiltered proposals
│ │
└────────────────────────┬────────────────────────┘
▼
“False Productivity Trap”
(Motion without strategic output)
“`

Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz, the co-founders of Politico and Axios, have responded with a management framework in their book, *Simplify: Do 50% More with 50% Less*. They argue that unchecked AI deployment has degraded workplace focus by accelerating the volume of incoming communications inside and outside organizations.

“When I talk to people at corporations, they’re like, ‘My team is drowning, everyone thinks they’re smart now,’” VandeHei said in an interview about the problem. Corporate managers, he noted, are increasingly required to conduct exhaustive reviews of AI-generated presentations made by staff members who previously did not have deck-building responsibilities.

The mismatch between software capability and administrative governance is central to the problem. Generative tools can draft text and slide decks in seconds, but their integration with corporate databases, security protocols, and privacy frameworks often creates friction rather than speed. Allen said organizations face a two-front squeeze as incoming sales pitches and internal communications expand simultaneously.

The authors’ careers in concise communication began decades before the current AI surge. VandeHei and Allen previously worked as White House correspondents for *The Wall Street Journal* and *The Washington Post*, respectively. They launched Politico in 2007 with John F. Harris, and Allen created *Playbook*, an early-morning political intelligence newsletter that gained a dominant position among Washington insiders and was highlighted in a 2010 profile by *The New York Times Magazine*.

Allen has described the resulting workplace behavior using a concept popularized by former Slack chief executive Stewart Butterfield: “work-like activity.” The phrase refers to tasks that simulate output, including formatting slides, sending routine updates, and generating draft documents, without producing measurable business progress. Left without strict operational controls, Allen said, human behavior naturally leans toward complexity, multiplying meeting calendars and administrative tasks.

Schwartz joined Politico from Gallup in 2008 and became its chief revenue officer in 2009, helping restructure the outlet’s commercial strategy. In 2016, he, VandeHei, and Allen left Politico to found Axios, whose bulleted, scannable editorial format was branded “Smart Brevity.”

Schwartz said his emphasis on distillation was partly shaped by dyslexia, which required him to organize complex information into concise, structured points so he could process it efficiently. He later led Axios HQ, an enterprise software spinoff created after the trio’s sale of Axios to Cox Enterprises in August 2022 for a deal valuation of $525 million. Axios HQ applies AI-driven concise-writing algorithms to internal corporate communications and recently reached profitability, generating approximately $20 million in annualized recurring revenue.

To counter digital expansion, the authors recommend recurring operational audits on a monthly or weekly cadence. Managers are instructed to examine every task through three categories:

* **Essential Execution:** Identify the critical tasks that directly drive organizational goals and establish their exact order of priority.
* **Operational Elimination:** Find redundant meetings, routine reports, and legacy workflows that can be permanently deleted.
* **Targeted Automation:** Locate stable, repetitive processes suitable for software automation without manual intervention.

Schwartz said most corporate workflows continue because of habit rather than strategic utility. “Everything in an organization is usually done by default, and you want it done by design,” he said.

VandeHei also contrasted the current workplace with the pre-internet offices of the 1990s. He said that period was not necessarily superior, but it was demonstrably slower because it lacked constant mobile alerts, real-time messaging platforms, and continuous digital notifications. The constant influx of incoming data reduces the mental capacity required to analyze complex information.

The framework recommends firm personal boundaries without elaborate explanations. Allen uses a rule for declining non-essential commitments: saying simply, “I’m booked,” or relying on the principle that “no is a complete sentence.”

“Anytime somebody wants you to do something, join something, you don’t have to apologize, you don’t have to explain, just say, ‘I’m booked,'” Allen said. He added that successful executives frequently reject obligations that fall outside their core family or work priorities.

VandeHei’s advice about generative tools changes according to career maturity. For early-career workers and students, he recommends minimal reliance on AI during foundational learning. They must first build domain expertise and pattern-recognition skills naturally before delegating cognitive tasks to software.

“`
CAREER STAGE AI ADOPTION STRATEGY
│
┌────────────────────────┴────────────────────────┐
▼ ▼
Early-Career / Students Mid- to Late-Career
• Minimal AI offloading • High AI leverage
• Focus on building domain knowledge • Uses tools as force multipliers
• Develop pattern recognition skills • Frees time for deep strategic work
“`

Mid- and late-career professionals, by contrast, can use AI as a force multiplier for routine drafting and administrative processing, freeing time for high-level strategic thinking. VandeHei advised young professionals entering the job market to identify the force-multiplier applications relevant to their precise roles, because proficiency with job-specific AI tools has become an entry-level expectation.

In many corporate environments, Gen Z interns and early-career hires are being treated as informal AI strategy consultants because senior executives lack familiarity with the tools. VandeHei said these younger workers are often surprised by upper management’s lack of technical direction, while their willingness to experiment with emerging platforms provides immediate leverage in a changing workplace.