---
id: "concept-performative-ai-use"
type: "concept"
source_timestamps: ["§ Why People Create Workslop"]
tags: ["compliance", "ai-adoption", "organizational-behavior"]
related: ["concept-workslop", "claim-blanket-mandates-fail", "claim-mindset-decline"]
definition: "The use of AI tools by employees to demonstrate compliance with leadership mandates rather than to generate meaningful value, often resulting in low-effort output."
sources: ["adoption"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-adoption"
originDay: 9
articleStem: "hbr-edu-38-ai-workslop"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/01/why-people-create-ai-workslop-and-how-to-stop-it"
sourceTitle: "Why People Create AI “Workslop”—and How to Stop It"
---
# Performative AI Use

**Performative AI use** occurs when employees use generative-AI tools primarily to *demonstrate compliance* with leadership directives rather than to produce real value. It is triggered by blanket mandates to 'use AI' issued to a workforce that lacks the training, agency, or cultural trust to experiment thoughtfully. Because employees are stretched thin and psychologically depleted (see [[claim-mindset-decline]]), they reach for low-effort, low-value AI applications simply to check a box — which directly manufactures [[concept-workslop-d38]].

This behavior is the causal hinge between vague directives ([[claim-blanket-mandates-fail]]) and workslop output.

**Enrichment.** The BetterUp/Stanford article and derivative pieces describe the same behavior — employees 'thoughtlessly copying and pasting AI responses into documents, even when AI isn't suited to the job at hand.' Worklytics attributes it to 'adopting AI without guidance.' While the *label* is the authors' coinage, the underlying behavior is **well-documented.**