Have you felt the bar at work creeping higher, the expectations for your patience and output becoming almost superhuman? You're not imagining it. According to a leading AI product manager, the relentless, flawless consistency of artificial intelligence is quietly resetting the standards for everyone else, creating a pressure cooker environment where simply being human can feel like a disadvantage.
Svetlana Makarova, who works in AI technical product management at IKS Health, calls this unsettling trend the "humanity discount." It's a dynamic where the variability, emotion, and judgment that define us are increasingly seen as flaws when stacked against a machine that never has a bad day. "Human workers begin to face unrealistic standards for productivity, patience, and availability," she told Business Insider.
Your Job Was Already Being Scripted for This Moment
This shift didn't start with ChatGPT. Makarova points out that for decades, companies have been optimising jobs for efficiency, breaking roles into repeatable tasks and standardising outputs. Think scripts, templates, and rigid performance metrics. This wasn't just about scaling up; it was laying the groundwork for automation. "If the work has been scripted," Makarova states, "it's been prepared for automation."
Now, AI is supercharging that process. Trained on years of structured workflows—from customer service dialogues to legal documentation—AI systems can replicate these tasks with frightening accuracy in fields like sales, law, and research. The uncomfortable question Makarova poses is stark: "How much of that work could honestly be described as following a process someone else designed?" Her implication is clear: if the answer is more than half, automation isn't a future threat—it's the next logical step.
The Creep of Emotional AI and Warped Expectations
Perhaps the most insidious change is happening on a human level. As we interact with AI designed to mimic emotional intelligence—chatbots that are endlessly patient and empathetic—our expectations of real people are being subtly distorted. "Interacting with AI that performs emotional intelligence is quietly lowering how human we judge other people to be," Makarova warns.
The result is a paradox of the modern workplace. While AI tools promise efficiency, knowledge workers are finding themselves busier than ever. The ability to deliver more with AI's help has simply raised the perceived level of productivity possible, trapping professionals in a cycle of ever-higher expectations.
How to Fight the 'Discount' and Stay Indispensable
So, how do you stay competitive when the benchmark is a perfect, unfeeling algorithm? Makarova says the key is to double down on what AI can't replicate. Focus on making critical decisions under uncertainty, navigating complex social dynamics, and applying deep, nuanced expertise that no dataset can capture. "The people who catch what AI misses are the ones who can hold ambiguity and make defensible calls when the data is incomplete," she advises.
The future of work isn't just about using AI; it's about fiercely protecting and cultivating the irreplaceably human skills it lacks. As the machines get better at the script, your value will lie in writing entirely new ones, solving problems no one has templated yet, and bringing the messy, brilliant judgment that no algorithm can ever truly learn.