All posts tagged: gridlock

AI Is Turning Workplaces Into Hopeless Gridlock

AI Is Turning Workplaces Into Hopeless Gridlock

Published by José Betancourt

CEOs have eagerly grabbed onto AI as a tool to make offices more efficient, and often to reduce headcount via brutal layoffs. There’s a problem, though: the workers who remain often say they now have to fix a flood of error-ridden AI-generated “workslop” that’s burdening them, paradoxically, with more work than ever. All this pointless busywork to correct AI-generated output results in hidden costs for companies that embrace the tech, according to The Guardian. One recent survey of 1,150 desk jockeys found that the 40 percent had encountered workslop — defined as “AI-generated content that looks good, but lacks substance” — in the course of their duties, forcing them to waste 3.4 hours per month dealing with it. At scale, that’s significant: all those hours wasted tally up to an estimated $8.1 million of lost productivity for a workplace with 10,000 workers. The hypothesis is supported by previous research that found that computer programmers become slower when using AI. A widely-cited MIT study found that 95 percent companies that deployed AI don’t see any added …

Taiwan president’s defense plan hits gridlock as China ramps up pressure : NPR

Taiwan president’s defense plan hits gridlock as China ramps up pressure : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te visits a military base in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on May 16, 2025. Lai has pushed for a major boost to defense spending, but opposition parties have slowed his plans. Daniel Ceng/Anadolu via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Daniel Ceng/Anadolu via Getty Images TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te has spent his first year in office warning that time is running out to prepare for a possible conflict with China. In the past two months alone, he has proposed a sweeping special defense budget and backed a landmark $11 billion U.S. weapons purchase meant to strengthen the island’s deterrence. But his commitments are colliding with Taiwan’s domestic political reality. The opposition parties that control the legislature have repeatedly voted to block Lai’s proposed special defense budget. The plan would direct roughly $40 billion toward new missile defenses, long-range precision weapons and unmanned systems over the coming eight years. Fu Kun-chi (center), the leader of the Kuomintang (KMT) party caucus in Taiwan’s legislature, shakes hands with supporters outside of the Legislative Yuan …