Quick fixes AG-V007
Don't forward what you haven't read
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Polished, substance-free AI output has a name now — workslop — and a documented cost: the work you skipped lands on whoever receives it.
I'm about to forward AI output I haven't checked? Here's the quick fix ↓ — the why sits right below it.
Quick fix: Don't forward what you haven't read
Instead of Generate the report, skim the headings, send it to the team.
Try Read it as the recipient will. Cut what you cannot vouch for. Then send — with a line saying what you checked and what you did not.
Why this works
Fluent output creates the impression of finished work, and forwarding it converts your saved minutes into the receiver's lost hour: they must reverse-engineer what is real, what is filler, and what is wrong, without the context you had. Survey research put numbers on this in 2025 (a large share of desk workers report receiving polished AI output that creates more work than it saves, at roughly two hours of handling per instance) and gave it the name that stuck: workslop. The sender's shortcut is the receiver's tax, and it is paid with your name attached.
When this applies
Anything AI-drafted is about to reach another person as if it were finished work: reports, analyses, PR descriptions, meeting summaries, bug reports. Highest stakes where the receiver will act on it rather than just read it.
Template
Before sending, the honest wrapper:
I used AI to draft this. I have verified [the parts you actually checked]; [sections/numbers] I have not verified. The question I need you to look at is [the real ask].
If writing that sentence feels embarrassing, the document is not ready to send — which is the point of writing it.
Go deeper
The self-facing version is output used unread; this is what happens when the unread output ships to a colleague. Whether and how to disclose AI assistance is its own question. The open-source flood variant (AI-generated reports drowning maintainers) is why review-capacity limits exist: don't fan out past your review.
Improve next
- You are about to use something you have not read
Read it before you send it — the output is yours once it leaves.
- Raise the checking with the stakes
The stakes here are high — verify before acting, or ask a human.
Something wrong with this page?
Say what you expected and what you got. That is usually the shortest route to a correction, and it goes on the public issue tracker so the fix is visible.