When AI replaces office conversations
Previously, Daniel Deceuster - Marketing Director at a non-profit organization - often approached colleagues to solve all sorts of big and small problems in his work. Need to change a logo from rectangular to square? He texted the designer. Need to build a new dashboard? He scheduled a meeting with the engineering team. But now, all Deceuster needs to do is open an AI application like Claude or ChatGPT, and the results appear in just a few seconds.
“We are doing more than ever,” Deceuster shared. But along with that incredible productivity is a silent loss he is experiencing. When he no longer depends on colleagues for these tasks, the frequency of interaction between him and them has decreased by 50%. As an extrovert who likes to socialize, he sadly said: “It's sad to see that connection disappear”.
Deceuster's story is not unique. For centuries since the Industrial Revolution, the office (white-collar) has been shaped as a highly social space, where people are forced to communicate, negotiate, debate and brainstorm together to solve complex problems. From having no colleagues, we have many colleagues and spend most of the working day with them. It is the casual complaints about bosses, chatter after meetings or times of overcoming difficulties together that have made work from being tiring become meaningful. Now, AI tools are completely replacing those connections by providing an alternative knowledge base for sharing between people.
Performance takes the throne, the bond is faded
Why are people now tending to choose AI instead of colleagues? The answer lies in convenience and psychological fear of conflict. A writer admits that he often uses AI to refute his articles with questions such as: "Is this section of my explanation too lengthy?", "Is the conclusion bland?" before sending it to the editor.
The reason is very practical: ChatGPT is always available, not forcing him to wait for answers. If there is a disagreement, he can argue with it without fear of making the atmosphere tense. He is also never worried that he will bother it with his obsessive and coercive trivial questions.
Jessica Reif, an AI impact research expert at the Wharton School of Business (USA), commented: "Previous interactions between people required trust and acceptance to reveal one's imperfections in front of colleagues. Using ChatGPT is less conflicting." It allows people the right to "choose to withdraw" from relationships.
However, a non-摩擦 relationship is also a relationship that lacks depth. Reducing the "troublesome" needs with colleagues inadvertently makes us lose the opportunity to learn from them, lose the ability to position and resolve disagreements, and push the most important professional relationships into indifference.
Peter Pang, co-founder of a virtual assistant platform, said that conflicts between his employees have significantly decreased since he let AI assistants take on most of the work. He only spends 10% of his time managing employees instead of 60% as before. "Arguing with each other is not a constructive way to establish relationships," Pang said.
However, that perspective has overlooked a core truth: It is the small, mandatory interactions in the office that are the catalyst for creating trust and goodwill for teams to overcome real crises. Without understanding what colleagues are doing, we can easily step on each other's shoulders.
Reif warns that if we are not alert, we risk turning the office into a dry assembly line instead of a vibrant working environment.
The biggest challenge today is the trade-off: Choose the immediate productivity of an independent individual, or choose the cohesion of a sustainable collective? Daniel Deceuster, an extroverted marketing director, chooses to walk to a colleague's table to chat directly instead of texting through an application. But this self-effort also encounters barriers in the department. He sadly admits: "Everyone is spinning to complete their work. You don't want to lose your job just because you are considered a distraction to others.
In the context of traditional community spaces such as churches, clubs or local sports tournaments shrinking, offices are almost the last fortress to take people out of their personal shells to connect with society. If we let AI take away this connection space, humanity may enter an era in which we achieve higher efficiency than ever, but also more lonely than ever.
Finding bonding in the algorithmic era
The solution is not to boycott technology, but to restructure the way we live with it. Experts suggest two options: One is to use AI to strengthen relationships with colleagues instead of replacing human relationships - for example, use AI to practice before a difficult conversation with a boss or compose a sensitive email for a colleague. Reality shows that people who use AI in this way tend to interact more with colleagues.
Second, businesses must proactively re-establish systematic connection periods such as mentoring programs, field trips or regular direct meetings between managers and employees.
Silence" from research results
A survey by US technology company Cisco earlier this year showed that the group of employees who use AI most actively are those who have lower levels of trust in their team than those who occasionally use it. The reason is very simple: They spend too much time working independently with machines and have little interaction with people.
Meanwhile, the BetterUp training platform also found that employees who turn to AI instead of mentors or managers to ask for advice often have a lower level of teamwork, higher burnout rates and tend to want to quit more. AI is unintentionally creating isolation when applied individually instead of collectively.
