In Brief: Optimism Lowers Stress; Workers Weigh In on AI’s Workplace Impact

Optimism helps people cope with stress, researchers from Syracuse University and Michigan State University have found. Their study suggests that optimism promotes resilience and motivates people to act, adapt and solve problems. 

People can improve their well-being by adopting optimistic behaviors such as exercising, without necessarily changing their mindset, the researchers found. The study drew on a 2016 survey of Americans ages 50 and up, whose optimism was measured by their responses to statements such as “In uncertain times, I usually expect the best,” or “I hardly ever expect things to go my way.” 

Optimists view stressful situations positively, so they’re more likely to address the issue, the researchers found. In the study, people who were more optimistic worried less and were less lonely and stressed. 

“This was partly because these people engaged in more physical activity and perceived more social support and less strain from their relationships,” said Jeewon Oh, an assistant professor of psychology at Syracuse University and the study’s lead author.

Is the News Negative and Sensationalistic, Or Just Surprising?

The news media might not emphasize negative, sensational stories as much as people think, a recent study suggests. 

Researchers at Harvard University, Stanford University, and the University of Chicago analyzed thousands of network-TV news segments on topics such as the stock market and U.S. military deaths from 1968 to 2013. 

When comparing those stories to historical information on the same subjects, they found that coverage seemed more rational and justified when measured by its ability to surprise. To gauge the newsworthiness of each topic on each day, the researchers developed a score to measure how surprising the story was.

According to Jesse Shapiro, a professor of economics and business at Harvard and one of the study’s co-authors, the findings suggest that “What might appear to be bias [toward negative, sensationalistic stories] might actually be reflecting the imperative to report what is news.” 

The researchers’ definition of newsworthiness, as something unexpected, might help businesses gain the attention of customers, Shapiro said.

Workers Weigh In on AI’s Workplace Impact

About half of U.S. employees (52%) worry that artificial intelligence will disrupt the workplace, the Pew Research Center finds. In a recent survey, 32% of respondents think AI will leave them with fewer job opportunities. Just 6% think that AI use in the workplace will improve their job prospects.

And while 36% of workers surveyed say they feel hopeful about how AI might be used in the workplace, a similar share (33%) say they feel overwhelmed by the technology. 

Most American workers surveyed (63%) report that they don’t use artificial intelligence much or at all in their job. About 16% say at least some of their work is currently done with AI, while 17% have not heard about the use of AI in the workplace.

Workers with lower and middle incomes are more likely than those with upper incomes to say that the use of AI in the workplace will eventually mean fewer job opportunities for them. 

Should We Record Meetings?

Apps now record business meetings and phone calls, and AI summarizes the highlights. The promise is that nothing is lost from meetings, and no one has to take notes. But as The Wall Street Journal reports, when people know they’re being recorded, they talk differently and might rein in their ideas.

Transcripts by AI might also degrade our ability to trust one another. When colleagues are relaxed and open in their conversations, they build relationships. But when co-workers are conscious of AI transcription and guarded in their conversations, it’s harder to create trust. 

Studies have found that AI sometimes makes things up in transcripts, just as it can “hallucinate” information in chats and research tasks, the Journal reports.

Rather than set all conversations to record by default, decide whether and when to start recording and let everyone know, the paper suggests. That way, people can begin with a relaxed, off-the-record chat. Team members should know who can access the meeting transcript, which should be stored carefully. 

Despite AI’s Ascent, Google Still Dominates Online Searches

Americans who use desktop computers perform an average of 126 Google searches per month, according to a new analysis by SparkToro, a company that designs market-research software. The median, or point above and below which 50% of the data falls and which can be more representative than the average, is 53 Google searches per month.

The study only counted Americans’ searches on Google.com, and excluded searches performed on Google’s mobile apps. 

As Search Engine Land reports, some observers speculate that Google’s search dominance will wane now that AI “answer engines” provide direct answers to queries without users having to visit a website. (Google itself is becoming an AI answer engine, at least in part, as it now provides AI summaries atop responses to many user questions.)

Google’s search volume remains massive, the study finds. Nearly 87% of Americans use Google’s homepage to search for topics and answers, totaling more than 5 trillion searches per year, according to SparkToro.