Generative AI (GenAI) and similar tools have quietly become part of the workday. They draft your emails, summarize your meetings, and run your calendar. The promise is obvious: faster work and fewer repetitive tasks. However, for some workers, the efficiency is coming at a cost.
Nearly half (46%) of Gen Z workers surveyed say relying too much on GenAI is eroding their skills and making them feel less intelligent, according to The Pulse of Work in 2026: Opportunity, Risk, and Responsibility in an AI-Driven Workplace report from GoTo, a communication and IT management software firm.
There's a longer-term threat, too. As companies use AI tools to replace some roles, they may be hollowing out their own future by trimming early-career positions and leaving new graduates out of the workforce. Recent college graduates experienced unemployment rates above 5% across four categories of undergraduate degree fields in 2024, according to SHRM’s Labor Force Snapshot: Recent College Graduates in the US Labor Force report. This report follows the debut of several AI-generative tools in late 2022 and into 2023.
To move toward AI adoption goals while supporting employee development, especially among young career professionals, HR leaders must avoid dismissing concerns around AI, address the risk of lost skills from AI use, and build AI governance that builds trust while guiding employees toward thoughtful integration.
A Productivity Tool That Workers Worry About
Damon Covey, general manager, unified communications and collaboration, at GoTo calls the tension between workers, especially younger generations, and AI adoption the "AI paradox." AI delivers real gains in productivity and efficiency, he emphasized, but it creates serious drawbacks without the right training, guardrails, and policies in place.
These drawbacks include a perceived negative impact on intelligence. Nearly 40% of workers admitted AI is making them feel less intelligent, while 30% said they can't function without it. Even more telling, 70% admitted using AI for sensitive or high-stakes tasks, up sharply from 54% the year before.
"When people are self-reporting behavior they know is ethically questionable, it usually means the prevalence is even higher in real life," Covey said. In other words, misuse isn't getting better as AI matures. Employees are openly admitting it's getting worse, and fast.
Avoid Dismissing Concerns
Gen Z is widely considered to be the first digital native generation. Their comfort with technology has enhanced their connection with AI-generative tools, making them part of the group of early adopters. Their connection with digital tools makes their concerns over AI use even more perceptive and deserving of attention. The self-awareness demonstrated by the study results is especially notable, according to Luke Goetting, a future of work speaker and author of Unlocking NextGen Talent who presented at SHRM Talent 2026.
"It's genuinely impressive. These are people at the very start of their careers, and a lot of us — at every level — are still figuring out where AI fits into our work,” Goetting said. “The fact that so many of them are already using these tools while showing self-awareness about the tradeoffs tells me they're trying to be thoughtful and strategic about it." That candor, he argues, reflects Gen Z's digital nativity, not resistance to technology. This is a generation thinking hard about AI's tradeoffs, including job impacts and energy use. Dismissing their worry as technophobia misses the point entirely.
Build AI Governance That Makes Sense
Right now, many companies lack AI governance to guide responsible use. According to the same report from GoTo, less than half (44%) of IT leaders say their organization has an AI policy. Of the employees surveyed, 77% report existing policies need improvement and 80% say their organizations aren’t properly training them to use AI tools.
Goetting emphasizes the importance of leading with "why" when discussing AI adoption in the workplace. "It's important to realize there is concern and skepticism of AI, especially among Gen Z," Goetting said. "Some entry-level roles are being eliminated, there are environmental concerns about energy and water use — be prepared to speak to that."
Acknowledging concerns from employees regarding AI use is one step forward, but HR leaders will need to address them through AI governance. Building the rules, policies, and procedures for using AI in the workplace can not only help employees understand their place in adoption but help protect the organization from some of the pitfalls of unrestricted AI use.
Address the Risk of Skills Loss Through Learning and Development
For Goetting, the deeper danger isn't losing a skill someone once had — it's never building it in the first place.
"Those of us who've spent years building a skill can lean on that judgment when we use AI — we know how to assess what it gives us, push back on it, tweak it, redefine it," Goetting said. "The real danger is the person who never built that foundation. If we just hand them the tool and assume AI covers the gap, they have nothing to measure the output against.” He warns of the risk of setting employees and the organization up for inferior outcomes if investment lags in professional development, mentorship, and on-the-job training.
Goetting advocates for building a career "jungle gym" inside organizations to develop employees who understand the business deeply. "If we want to truly create well-rounded, insightful employees, we can't push people into limited roles without opportunities to evolve beyond the corporate ladder," Goetting said. Instead, he encourages leaders to think about roles more modularly — assigning a core role while also allocating a portion of the week, say five to ten hours, for special projects across other parts of the organization.
One of Goetting's clients built an AI-facilitated talent marketplace that matches employees to projects and mentorships based on their skills and interests. The result: employees' roles evolve with them, allowing for deeper connections and continued skill-building over the course of their careers.
Move from Awareness to Action
"The organizations that will ultimately win with AI are the ones that treat it as a work design and knowledge challenge, not just a technology deployment," Covey said. That's the charge for HR and learning leaders. Move from awareness to action. Understand the concerns of employees. Write clear, adaptable policies with guardrails for AI use. Build learning programs that develop both AI fluency and durable human skills like judgment and critical thinking. The companies that thrive will be the ones still investing in human judgment, not just deploying better tools.
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