Employees’ Confidence In AI Growing, But So Is Anxiety About Job Loss: Report

The sentiments of employees about artificial intelligence and generative AI are evolving significantly, with 42% reporting confidence about the technologies’ impact on their work, compared to 26% last year, according to a report by the Boston Consultancy Group.

However, anxiety about the technologies also rose by 5%, with 49% of regular users believing their job may disappear in the next 10 years due to the development of AI and gen AI, a view shared by only 24% of workers who do not use the technologies, the report showed.

The report, titled AI at Work: Friend and Foe, was based on a survey of more than 13,000 workers across 15 countries, including India, with respondents ranging from executive suite leaders to frontline employees.

The survey revealed that respondents from the Global South countries such as India, Brazil, Nigeria, South Africa, and Middle East were more consistently bullish and less anxious than respondents in mature markets about gen AI. The Global South also had a higher proportion of regular users of gen AI at work among its leaders, managers and frontline employees than the Global North did.

Managers and frontline employees from the Global South were more likely than their peers in the Global North to have received gen AI training in the past year. In the time freed up by using gen AI, Global South respondents were more likely to experiment with the tool, engage in professional development and focus on the quality of their work.

According to the report, 58% of respondents who use gen AI for work said using the tool saved them at least five hours per week. These respondents added that they are using this freed-up time to perform more tasks (41%) or new tasks (39%), experiment with gen AI (38%), work on strategic tasks (38%), finish work earlier (35%), connect with co-workers (30%) or pursue professional development (30%).

“We are entering a new era for gen AI which is less about optimism and curiosity and more about confidence and value realisation. Adoption has increased and individuals are starting to see the benefits,” said Vinciane Beauchene, a managing director and partner at BCG and a co-author of the report.

“Companies are also starting to realise that getting the value out of their investment will require them to think beyond productivity and take a more holistic and proactive approach to redirect the time saved to the most valuable and joyful activities, to reskill their employees to do so, and to reshape their organisations and operating models as a consequence,” Beauchene added.

Nearly two-thirds of leaders (64%) said they are starting to implement gen AI tools to reshape their organisations. Engagement with the technology increased over the last year, particularly with frontline employees: more than twice as many reported using the tool regularly compared to 2023, and 43% of them did so for work.

Although companies have made improvements in training their employees on these technologies, there is potential for further growth, as only 30% of managers and 28% of frontline employees were already trained on how AI will change their jobs, compared with half of leaders.