Image source, Duncan Trevithick Image caption, Duncan Trevithick's firm has a bonus scheme based on the use of AI
It's in Duncan Trevithick's interest to be good at using AI at work - if he can use it to get more tasks done, faster, he'll qualify for a bonus at the end of the year.
On the surface, it's a great incentive. But he's questioning what's really in it for him.
"The uncomfortable interpretation is that employees are being assessed on how effectively they can participate in their own redundancy," says Spain-based Trevithick, 34, who works in marketing for an AI training data company.
But if he uses AI to take care of two days worth of work each week, he says the financial rewards don't add up.
"I do not receive two days off or a 40% pay rise. The higher output simply becomes the new baseline. In the short term, that may help me get promoted. In the longer term, I have helped prove how much of my job no longer requires me," he says.
"I'm just trying to view myself as a manager, and I'm managing some people, and I'm also managing AI agents, or AI loops, or whatever you want to call it."
Image source, Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Image caption, Coinbase chief executive Brian Armstrong fired staff for not completing AI training
Using employees' AI abilities as a measure of whether they should get a bonus, promoted - or even sacked - is fast becoming more common.
Accenture CEO Julie Sweet told the Rapid Response podcast in March: "Today, AI at Accenture is how we do work. So if you want to get promoted, you've got to do the things that we do in order to operate at Accenture."
And big names like Disney, Meta, JP Morgan and KPMG have introduced "AI leaderboards" to track and rank employees' usage of the array of LLMs and platforms at their disposal, according to media reports , external . Crypto trading platform Coinbase has already fired engineers who didn't complete AI training, as requested by the chief executive, Brian Armstrong , external .
It demonstrates how eager business leaders are to see a return from their AI investments, especially when 94% of companies have yet to see significant value from AI, according to a report , external by consultants McKinsey.
Employees feel they have to get on board, thanks to the current state of the jobs market - in the UK, vacancies have hit a five-year low .
Meanwhile, 75% of the 1,881 UK jobseekers polled in July by recruiter Gi Group say they would not be put off applying to an organisation that had introduced AI proficiency into individual performance reviews. Around 22% said it would be off-putting.
"It's like being in the sea and you see a giant wave coming. You can get out a surfboard and try and ride it as long as possible, or you can just let it take you under. But you can't stop the wave," says Trevithick.
But what's going on at the large consultancy Pamela (her name has been changed to protect her identity) works for isn't sitting right with her.
She's a US-based senior executive who has observed that, while there isn't a formal mandate for employees to use AI, it's obviously determining who is rewarded, and who is left behind.
"The ground is shifting under us. You've got to demonstrate [AI] fluency and fluidity as one of your key achievements. It's kind of quiet where nobody's saying, 'learn AI or else'. But let me tell you, i…