120: Two Concerning Ways AI Is Increasing Drama on Teams

This episode explores two emerging ways AI is starting to double the amount of drama happening on teams. The challenge is that those who may be lower in accountability can add more drama to your culture through careless AI use, sending along unprocessed "AI slop" that shifts the burden of thinking and cleanup onto whoever receives it. Meanwhile, your high accountables may be exponentially increasing that same drama by turning judgmental toward colleagues who are still finding their footing with the tool, sometimes writing off genuinely strong work simply because it looks AI-generated. This episode names the emerging problem on both sides and discusses practical ways to bridge that gap, refocus on self-reflection and personal accountability, and bring teams back together instead of splitting into judgment and defensiveness. Episode Highlights: 00:01:41 – Alex introduces the two ways AI use is increasing drama on teams 00:03:26 – The defining characteristics of AI slop: illusion of progress, shifted burden, receiver disengagement 00:05:01 – How a high accountable mindset processes receiving AI-generated work 00:07:18 – The break in trust that happens when unprocessed AI work lands on someone's desk 00:08:00 – Why self-reflection tools work through visual processing instead of verbal venting 00:11:12 – How AI accelerates the pattern of intellectualizing instead of truly reflecting 00:12:56 – Alex's idea for building self-reflection prompts into AI tools themselves 00:14:07 – The second source of drama: high performers judging others' AI use 00:16:03 – Applying "stop judging, start helping" to AI-era team dynamics 00:18:03 – A real example of a colleague wrongly assuming a photo was AI-generated 00:19:49 – Alex previews his upcoming book, Checkmate to Drama Link to pre-order Alex's book, How We Could: The Framework to Lead Without Drama, Build Alignment and Call Teams to Greatness for you and your teams: https://www.realitybasedleadership.com/pre-order