Gen Z carries 3 times as much work, but the boss still pouts, "Not as good as ChatGPT"

From "magic treasure" to invisible burden

As the first generation to grow up entirely in a digital environment, it's no surprise that Gen Z (those born between roughly 1997 and 2012) are early adopters and quick adopters of AI tools.

By regularly using tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok in studying, researching, and working, Gen Z has contributed to accelerating the development of AI application trends to support, speed up work, and improve productivity.

Applying AI to work has almost become a default for many professions at the present time (Photo: Minh Nhat).

Quynh Anh (22 years old), currently working as a software tester, said: "AI has supported me a lot in my current job, from finding bugs, testing features to building test scripts, AI does everything very well. Thanks to that, just building scripts, my productivity has increased 3 times."

Or for Phuong Uyen (21 years old), who is working as a teacher at an English center, she commented: "AI helps me speed up the process of grading and correcting students' writing. In particular, I also regularly use these tools to quickly design slides or build lesson plans for teaching sessions."

With the support of AI, Uyen also estimates that work productivity has increased quite significantly, specifically up to 2 times higher than normal.

Similar to the two employees mentioned above, Thanh Huyen (23 years old), who is working as a content creator for a cosmetics company, shared about the effectiveness of AI in her work: "The work that I am doing from coming up with ideas, writing content, building video scripts to advertise products all involve AI tools. I have noticed that my work efficiency has increased a lot compared to before, estimated at about 3 times".

However, these personnel themselves are also under pressure with the tools they are using because the application of AI is no longer a rare thing, even becoming a necessary standard.

The rewards are no longer just for employees who simply use AI, but also for using it effectively to produce results that outperform their peers.

Many young employees are under pressure to use AI more effectively than others (Illustration: Getty).

But to create such outstanding results is not simple, employees must continuously learn regularly, adapt quickly to AI tools that are constantly updating with new features.

Faced with this reality, Hong Vy (21 years old), in charge of content creation for a food company, said: "I'm sure that I'm not the only one who uses AI regularly at work, but many people out there do too.

This has put pressure on me to know how to use AI better than others. So I often spend time learning more about AI, constantly learning new tools, taking courses so as not to fall behind those in the industry."

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has also repeatedly emphasized that in the future, mastering AI tools is no longer an advantage, but a minimum requirement for survival in the labor market. The ability to understand and use AI is predicted to be one of the most sought-after skills.

Economist Richard Baldwin once said at a World Economic Forum conference: "AI won't take your job. Only the people who use AI can take it away."

Was doused with cold water by the boss

However, when AI applications are no longer rare, and bosses themselves begin to know more about the power of this technology, a "culture shock" has occurred for many employees. High productivity thanks to AI is now obvious, the "new standard" that everyone must achieve in the digital age.

High productivity thanks to AI is now a given, the "new standard" that everyone must achieve in the digital age (Photo: Getty).

And worse, it becomes an excuse for lame comparisons and unreasonable demands.

Thanh Huyen shared the ironic truth at the company she works for: "Although AI helps me triple my productivity, my salary remains stagnant." She even shared: "I am assigned more work and "exploited" but my salary remains the same because the boss thinks that AI can do a little bit of work and that's it."

Huyen also confided that her boss often compared her to AI. "Not as good as AI", "AI does it faster than me" became the sentences she heard every day. That is what made this employee develop a mentality of being looked down upon by her boss.

Phuong Anh (23 years old), who works in customer care, expressed her opinion: "It is obvious that productivity increases thanks to AI, but the salary does not adjust because increased productivity means better work, faster completion, and more time for other things. Increasing salary must come from many factors, not just knowing how to use AI."

She also affirmed that increased productivity thanks to AI does not mean increased wages because AI is a standard that workers must have to survive.

"Just like before, being proficient in office software helps increase productivity but does not increase salary. What's important is that it helps me create a better competitive advantage when applying for a job or during the working process," Phuong Anh emphasized.

Mastering AI is now gradually becoming the minimum requirement to survive in the labor market (Illustration: Shutterstock).

One thing to be sure, most Gen Zers are not afraid of AI. On the contrary, they all recognize it as an essential tool. Phuong Uyen believes that AI skills are "just as important as professional skills, as well as foreign language ability". Meanwhile, Hong Vy calls it "a huge competitive advantage, almost mandatory".

The real problem is that some managers use that progress to exert counter-pressure. Instead of recognizing the ingenuity and intelligence of employees who master AI, they turn AI into a rigid yardstick, a point of comparison and demand. This is what has created "AI obsession" in the hearts of many young people.

Gen Z's quest to adapt in an AI landscape is 'obvious'

With AI applications to increase productivity no longer a distant dream, the fact that salary adjustments will not happen has caused many Gen Z to have different reactions.

With strong personalities, not afraid of change and demanding fairness, they began to have their own strategies to "survive" in the new working environment.

Many Gen Zers choose silence as golden, not directly confronting their boss about salary or comparison.

Thanh Huyen confided: "I have never had a direct conversation with my superiors" even though I feel compared to AI, given more work but the salary remains the same.

When efforts are not recognized in material terms because knowing how to use AI has become a given, many Gen Zers also choose to "reward" themselves with time. They use AI to complete tasks within the norm quickly and effectively, then use the remaining time for personal purposes.

Hong Vy believes that she has more free time thanks to AI, she uses that time off to learn additional skills to support her work as well as take on other jobs to increase her income.

Thanks to the support of AI at work, many young people have more time to take on other jobs or improve their knowledge (Illustration: CV).

Many Gen Zers also see this as an opportunity to upgrade themselves and find better "landing places" where their values ​​are properly appreciated. They proactively use their free time (thanks to AI) to hone their skills, expand their network of relationships, and do not hesitate to "job hop".

Phuong Uyen shared: "The salary is still the same, but I have more free time. And I can focus on completing other tasks to earn more income for myself and have more time to rest than before."

In particular, she also said that she had more time to hone her skills, including using AI, to wait for the opportunity to "jump ship" to a higher-paying position.

This is a very “Gen Z” response: practical, proactive, and unafraid of change. They understand that, in a volatile job market, continuous learning and a willingness to seek out new opportunities are key to growth.

There are fewer, but some Gen Zers who plan to or have already started to "speak up". A typical example is Quynh Hoa (24 years old), who works in customer service at a bank. Realizing that increased productivity thanks to AI still needs a worthy reward, she said she will "proactively discuss with her superiors about reviewing the compensation in the near future".

It can be seen that most of the productivity increase thanks to AI will not directly increase the salary. But it cannot be denied that thanks to AI, the staff will increase their self-worth, competitive advantage in the market and they can still seek opportunities to increase their salary by spending their free time thanks to AI to do other jobs to increase income.

Mastering AI helps enhance self-worth, create competitive advantages, and still creates opportunities for workers to increase their income (Illustration: CV).

Even in many businesses, although productivity has tripled thanks to AI, it will lead to a situation where businesses sell cheap products to compete on price.

Hope also comes to employees when businesses affirm that they will receive indirect salary and bonus growth thanks to increased company revenue due to the advantages created by AI, and this is also the motivation for employees to research and deeply apply AI to existing tasks.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Trang, CEO of Pisa Solutions LLC, affirmed: "The increase in efficiency thanks to AI brings more effective marketing campaigns, thereby increasing the total revenue of the company's products and projects. Thereby increasing the income and development of marketing staff at the company."

The World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs 2025-2030 report, published in early 2025, also indicated that more than 60% of employers will prioritize recruiting employees with AI-related skills, a figure that shows the urgent need for a workforce that can quickly adapt to current artificial intelligence technology.

This shows that the future belongs to those who master AI. The rapid increase in productivity thanks to AI may not directly increase salaries, but it will create opportunities for employees to compete with others. And certainly, businesses with vision will also know how to reward and motivate their employees.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/cong-nghe/gen-z-cong-viec-gap-3-sep-van-biu-moi-khong-bang-chatgpt-20250525194152822.htm