While AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google Gemini are often celebrated for boosting productivity, a recent Reddit post highlights a rather darker side. A creative professional has vented out their frustration on social media, blaming OpenAI’s ChatGPT for increasing the workload. Yes, you read that right – ChatGPT has increased the workload, not halved it, or made it a tiny bit easier!
In a Reddit post, a graphic designer, posting as “cemma2035” on the r/ChatGPT subreddit, described their job as becoming unbearable. The reason behind this bold claim is due to the sheer volume of AI-generated content that they are now expected to transform into finished designs.
ChatGPT raises unreal expectations
“Before ChatGPT and other LLMs, I would typically have to design 2 or 3 a week and they would only include a handful of key information because people actually had to come up with it themselves,” says cemma2035.
“Now every day, lots of people in the company that have never in their lives come up with any form of content are hitting me up daily with a new word document to turn into a sales presentation or clever graphic to post about the business,” she adds.
The core issue, according to cemma2035, is that “it’s all AI-generated. There are suddenly no limits to what they need designed before COB for a client they’re trying to secure.” This unchecked flow of AI-produced content has led to a higher demand for design work, leaving them feeling overwhelmed.
“I’m losing my mind,” the user stated.
When asked to point out that reference content was AI-generated, the user was met with a lot of criticism. “I literally have screenshots of the last time I pointed out that it was AI content. The person got mad as if I’d just insulted them. They got mad and said they can and will do the designing themselves. I ended up just doing it eventually bc I can’t deal with that drama …Right now I’m just scared to rock the boat because I do like my job so all I can do is resort to complaining online. But thanks for the advice,” she wrote.
Redditors were ready to help
While cemma2035 sounded distressed at the situation at their corporate workplace, Reddit users were more than happy to help.
One user, IAmFitzRoy, said, “That’s not the issue. Traditionally, it would take a long time and work to complete a FULL request of what they wanted, so he would receive 1 or 2 request in a week (for example). Now with LLM [Large Language Models] you can create multiple FULL requests daily and overload the designer. His productivity is not the problem, the problem is the overload.”
Another user, Drevaquero, came up with a humorous solution, “Use 15-30 minute one on ones to slow their pace. “I have questions about what you sent me and I really want to nail your vision. I’m putting time on your calendar to meet to chat about it.” It might seem like you’re creating more work with these meetings but you can only do so many 15-30 minute meetings in a day. It’s going to create a queue. Hope that helps.”
“I’m in this boat too. I’m a barely acceptable designer of some graphics for my company- and it’s important work that drives me nuts. I find myself working on it so, so much and it’s time-consuming with my low skill and many other obligations. The time it takes one of my business partners to throw together some AI slop And say they created something? Five minutes tops. To those saying AI can do this work just as easily- please tell me how! Bc I’ve tried using adobe ai, canva and chat gpt and it generates absolutely useless nonsense for all but the simplest image requests. I’d love to replace my own work at this point and I’ve tried!” wrote another graphic designer, posting as um-ok-yeah-thatll-do.
“It’s not the AI that’s killing you…it’s the expectation that now you can work at AI speed with no rest, no rhythm, and no creative respect. You’re not wrong. You’re exhausted because they replaced collaboration with content velocity. And that breaks people,” wrote another user.