Study Highlights Worker Attitudes Toward AI Adoption

New research reveals where workers lie on the spectrum of adopting artificial intelligence in the workplace. These findings can help organizations direct AI onboarding where it’s needed.

Slack’s Workforce Lab surveyed more than 5,000 knowledge workers in August about how they feel about using AI at work. The study, which also included some in-depth interviews, was conducted in Australia, India, Ireland, Singapore, the U.K., and the U.S.

“The AI-powered future of work isn’t just about enterprises, it’s also about employees—and it’s redefining everything from careers to workplace culture,” said Christina Janzer, senior vice president of research and analytics at Slack, a Salesforce company. “But to realize the promise of AI, companies need to make AI work for workers. As leaders, it’s important that we tailor our approach and help set every employee up for success in the AI-powered workplace.”

Janzer said that business leaders’ urgency to implement AI has grown since the emergence of the powerful technology, but a significant portion of the workforce has yet to use it at work. “There’s a real risk if that trend continues,” she said. “Companies and employees alike can miss out on tangible benefits by not adopting AI. In addition to improving efficiencies, AI can elevate the employee experience, from overall performance and productivity to well-being.”

The Slack findings are consistent with previous major technology adoption curves, noted Jeanne Meister, a future-of-work strategist and consultant in New York City. “Leaders have to understand the emotions about using AI at work,” she said. “It’s not just training them on how to use the tool. Some workers fear AI. Some fear that parts of their job will be automated, and they are afraid that using AI for critical parts of their job may make them look replaceable.”

Meister added that there may be uncertainty about how to use AI effectively and safely, and bureaucratic control of the process may be holding some employees back from experimenting with it. “The risk to the company is that resistant workers are holding back productivity and creativity and the organization’s overall success,” she said.

AI Workplace Personas

The research uncovered distinct AI personas that employers need to understand as they continue to implement AI in the workplace:

• Maximalists (30% of the professional workforce) are using AI multiple times a week to improve their work and are very open about it. Nearly half of this group says the use of AI is actively encouraged at their company, with or without guidelines. Maximalists could be recruited to become AI evangelists for the rest of the organization.
• Undergrounds (20% of the professional workforce) say they use AI but are hesitant to share that with their colleagues, either because it is discouraged at work or because they feel that it could make them seem disposable.

“Similar to knowledge hoarding, where some don’t want to share what they know with someone else to gain an advantage, some in this group may be hiding that they have a productivity advantage over colleagues,” Meister said. “Others may be thinking, ‘I’ll sit back and figure this out,’ so as not to get more put on their plate due to their increased productivity.”

Meister said that she thinks the number of “underground users” who aren’t divulging how they are using AI is even bigger than the study shows. “In the past, there was a fear that employees were bringing their own devices to work—now, workers are bringing their own AI to work,” she noted.

The remaining half of the professional workforce consists of various types of nonusers:

• Rebels (19%) don’t trust AI, avoid using it, and consider it unfair when their co-workers use it.
• Superfans (16%) and Observers (16%) have yet to integrate AI into their work but are watching developments with interest and caution.

“Nonusers tend to point to the hallucination issues with AI,” Meister said. “Employers have to build AI literacy into the flow of work and strategic planning. Make it a part of a foundational training program to show that ‘yes, there are issues’ but ‘here’s how to get around those issues.’ Teach prompt-building to create greater context and be more specific when engaging with AI. Provide incentives for people to share best use cases so nonusers feel more comfortable using AI.”

Janzer said that personas are not permanent, and employees can easily move from one persona to another with the right engagement. She recommended that employers establish clear AI guidance and provide training opportunities. “Help them understand how AI can be valuable to their work and encourage them to experiment with it,” she recommended.

Salesforce plans to roll out AI learning centers across its global offices—starting with its San Francisco headquarters—to provide local communities and employees access to hands-on, in-person AI learning and skills training.

“It’s a change management issue,” Meister said. “Employees will be using the technology anyway, with or without employer guidance, and that is the biggest risk—usage without guardrails or guidelines.”