A quiet but growing cohort of white-collar professionals is leveraging generative AI to hold down two or more full-time jobs at once, according to a report by Vice. These self-described “overemployed” workers say chatbots like ChatGPT handle the bulk of their daily tasks, enabling them to collect multiple salaries without their employers’ knowledge.
One worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Vice that AI was the primary reason he secured his current position. “ChatGPT does like 80 percent of my job if I’m being honest,” he said, adding that he even used the chatbot to apply for the role. While the tool occasionally produces errors, he described the necessary corrections as “minor” and said he also relied on AI to draft responses to his manager’s Slack messages.
Another “overemployed” individual told Vice they used AI to generate code for three financial reporting jobs simultaneously. A university lecturer reportedly balanced their teaching duties with a digital marketing agency and a tech startup, all with the help of AI tools.
The practice, while generally frowned upon in corporate culture, is defended by its practitioners. One tech worker told Vice, “I never could mentally comprehend why it was so taboo for me to work two salaried positions.” For them, the arrangement is a rational response to a system that values output over hours.
Why the Trend Could Reshape Employment
The report suggests that the rise of “overemployed” workers could accelerate the automation of jobs. If employers become aware that a single employee can handle multiple roles with AI assistance, they may conclude that fewer human workers are needed. One source told Vice, “It’s gonna be one loom operator, as opposed to, you know, 100 weavers.”
That analogy underscores a broader anxiety: that the very tools enabling this workforce flexibility could eventually render many salaried positions obsolete. For now, the “overemployed” have a strong incentive to keep their arrangements hidden, as detection could lead to termination and, more broadly, to a reassessment of staffing needs across industries.
The trend also raises ethical and legal questions. Most employment contracts prohibit holding other jobs, especially those that compete with the primary employer. Yet the anonymity of remote work and the efficiency of AI have made such arrangements easier to sustain.
Experts note that the phenomenon is still nascent, but its implications are significant. If AI can handle a substantial portion of knowledge work, the traditional model of one employee per role may come under pressure. The “overemployed” are, in effect, demonstrating that a single person can do the work of several—with a chatbot as their assistant.
As generative AI tools become more sophisticated, the line between human and machine output continues to blur. For employers, the challenge will be to adapt performance metrics and oversight to a reality where a single worker might be producing at the level of a small team—whether that worker is honest about it or not.
