Source: Featured Blogs - Forrester
The productivity paradox is now operating at consumer-facing companies: AI tools that promise to save time are instead lowering friction for task creation, meaning workers absorb more assignments rather than fewer ones. Shopify's internal warning against "AI slop grenades"—quick, low-effort AI outputs passed between colleagues—reveals that without deliberate friction or governance, these tools become mechanisms for work multiplication rather than elimination. Brands deploying AI to increase output velocity risk internal chaos and burnout, which directly degrades the experience their actual customers receive.