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Employees haven’t been shy about pushing back against AI in the workplace.
In a clear disconnect, bosses are often gung-ho about the tech, while their underlings are more aware that it often spits out confident-sounding work that on closer inspection is filled with subtle errors that need to be manually corrected. That divide was on full display when the mayor of Vancouver admitted extensive AI usage to the public this week, per The Canadian Press.
Earlier this week, Mayor Ken Sim participated in a press conference as part of the unveiling of two AI data centers coming to the city. In a slip of the tongue, Sim noted that he had “11 AI agents running,” doing “a lot” of his work in the background. His comments were immediately met with criticism, as noted by Daily Hive — some of which came from other local politicians. Clearly, the implication that the mayor could be handing off city-related duties to AI did not sit well with the locals. Now, Sim is attempting to walk back what he said, going as far as to issue a public statement.
“Any AI agents or tools I have experimented with were used strictly in a personal capacity,” Sim clarified. “At no point were these tools used to make city decisions, access confidential information, or conduct municipal business.”
He also went as far as to call the entire incident “misinformation,” which is confusing, since they were his own words.
One thing’s for sure: research has already found that AI has the potential to intensify workloads, which is a far cry from the supercharged efficiency AI developers are promising and bosses are touting. As a boss himself, maybe Sim was surprised to discover how conscious the public is those shortcomings.
After all, he made the snafu at a press conference for new AI data centers — so chances are, he’s drinking the Kool-Aid.
More on data centers: Almost Half of US Data Centers That Were Supposed to Open This Year Slated to Be Canceled or Delayed