Gen-Zers Blaze the AI Workplace Trail, but Still Want More Guidance

Companies of all sizes continue the rapid adoption of emerging artificial intelligence (AI) applications in an effort to lower the costs and improve performance of their businesses. Now, a series of recent studies offers owners and managers insights into how their employees are using the tech—especially digital native Gen Zers, who are embracing it faster than their older peers. The polls confirm the growing inroads that generative AI is making into business, and reflect how Gen Zers are embracing the tech more rapidly than older cohorts. While that may seem a logical role for members of the first generation brought up with digital devices in their hands to assume, it’s also an indicator of how AI use is likely to rapidly snowball. As with social media habits and the adoption of office applications like Zoom or Slack, younger people have tended to blaze the trails and set the pace of new tech use for other age groups to follow—as now seems to be true with artificial intelligence. While their numbers differ, all the recent surveys indicate Gen Zers are taking to AI for work in a very big way. According to a poll by online tech upskilling company upGrad Enterprise, “73 per cent of Gen Z (are) already integrating GenAI into their daily tasks.” A nearly identical portion of respondents are also using results those apps supply with minimal or no editing. A study of 1,000 U.S.-based knowledge workers aged 22-39 released Monday by Google found 93 percent of Gen Zers regularly using those advanced tech tools. That compares to 79 percent of Millennials and 82 percent across all generations. Perhaps not surprisingly, the most frequent use cases cited were tasks for which early AI applications are widespread and easily accessible. According to Google—which, provides AI enhanced services like Gmail, Docs, and Drive—respondents frequently used apps for “email responses, writing challenging emails from scratch, or helping to overcome language barriers.” It also noted about 88 percent of participants said those tools eased starting tasks that seem overwhelming, with similar numbers feeling the tech improved their writing and afforded greater work flexibility. But despite the rising use and influence of AI in the workplace, it’s clear from the polling that employees are also still feeling somewhat torn about the tech in other ways. For example, upGrad Enterprise’s survey found 52 percent of Gen Z respondents said their company’s AI training was insufficient, and 54 percent that guidelines for the ways the tech may and must not be used aren’t clear enough. Another poll showed 62 percent of younger employees fear AI apps may eventually eliminate their work. That job security concern that may explain why 56 percent said they preferred to rely on smart bots for finding answers they need, rather than going to their bosses for help. A similar ambivalence was reflected in the 52 percent of Gen Z employees who said they regularly discussed AI uses with co-workers, according to the Google study. Yet at the same time, it found 75 percent of people questioned said they had suggested using AI tools to office peers who need help, further fueling overall workplace adoption. And that, said, Google Workspace product vice president Yulie Kwon Kim, suggests ambitious employees of all ages “are not simply using AI as a tool for efficiency, but as a catalyst to help grow their careers.” However, upGrade CEO Srikanth Iyengar noted his company’s study also reflects not just how “Gen Z is embracing AI but, also the urgent need for organizations to establish supportive policies and implement targeted training.” Maybe once they do, younger employees will feel more comfortable sounding out their older managers than huddling with ChatGPT to learn what they need to know. BY BRUCE CRUMLEY