'Too many employees are serving as the human middleware between disconnected AI systems': New study claims workers are spending a whole day every week managing AI tools
Date:
Thu, 14 May 2026 09:41:02 +0000
Description:
Poor AI deployments are causing humans to spend a day a week as 'middleware' liaising between siloed AI systems.
FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter A quarter of UK workers say
they spend 7+ hours a week acting as AI middleware British workers are more likely to experience busy but unproductive days Workers still feel like they're making progress and being more productive New research has claimed human workers are increasing becoming 'middleware', plugging gaps between disconnected AI systems and data sources, reducing the efficiency of both AI agents and human workers.
The findings from Workday say the issue has become so bad, UK employees are now spending nearly an entire working day each week dealing with disconnected AI tools and systems, the software vendor says. More specifically, around one in four workers spend upwards of seven hours per week copying information between apps, reconciling conflicting data and feeding context manually into their AI prompts. Latest Videos From You may like Major study claims white-collar workers are fighting back against AI in the workplace Many firms don't know what their workers are sharing with AI tools AI is increasing workplace intensity, weekend activity, and multitasking Humans have become AI 'middleware' In its report, Workday fully acknowledges artificial
intelligence has had proven benefits on productivity, however current inefficiencies switching between systems, verifying outputs and manually moving data are effectively removing those gains.
"Too many employees are serving as the human middleware between disconnected AI systems," Workday VP Daniel Pell summarized.
The problem could be more pronounced in the UK, where more than 60%
frequently experience busy but unproductive days, up from 43% globally. A similar number (62%) of workers also spend at least half their working time translating and coordinating between multiple, siloed systems, rather than creating actual value.
However, worker sentiment differs from reality. Around nine in 10 reported a stronger sense of progress, ownership over their work and a clear connection to organizational goals, and nearly half (45%) already say that AI has accelerated work in a productive way. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me
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As for why companies are still struggling to deeply embed AI into workflows, Workday identified a number of barriers, including high volumes of approvals and governance checks (27%), uneven AI training and access (26%), rigid workflows and systems (26%) and poor data quality (24%).
"The companies seeing the most value from AI are building it directly into
the systems where their people, data and work come together," Pell concluded. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.
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Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/pro/too-many-employees-are-serving-as-the-human-midd leware-between-disconnected-ai-systems-new-study-claims-workers-are-spending-a -whole-day-every-week-managing-ai-tools
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