Survey Finds Most Workers Told to Use AI, but Many Unsure Why
A Culture Amp survey of 112,000 employees across 123 companies says 85% are encouraged to use AI at work, yet 48% don't understand the reason behind it, pointing to a communications gap between leadership and staff.
Most employees are being nudged toward artificial intelligence tools at work, but nearly half are not clear on the purpose behind that push, according to a new survey from workplace analytics firm Culture Amp.
As reported by TechRadar, the company's inaugural report, How Employees Really Feel About AI at Work, drew on responses from 112,000 employees at 123 businesses worldwide. It found that 85% of workers are encouraged to use AI for their tasks, while 48% said they do not know why they are being asked to do so.
Respondents did report upsides. The survey indicates employees cited productivity gains and increased motivation as benefits of using AI on the job.
The tension, per the report, sits less with frontline staff and more with how managers relay corporate AI strategy. Culture Amp describes a disconnect between strategy formulated at the top and what gets communicated to teams.
"Employees are telling us they understand the risks, they are using the tools, and they feel more productive," Amy Lavoie, VP of People Science at Culture Amp, said in a statement. "That is not a workforce resisting change. That is a workforce that has done its part and is waiting on leadership to do theirs."
The report frames the current period as early in the AI transition, with the long-term effects on workforces and individual roles still unclear. Not all of the communications gap may rest on individual managers: in some organizations, the corporate direction on AI may itself still be in development, leaving leaders without settled guidance to pass along.
"We do not know with certainty which roles AI reshapes, which skills hold their value, or what a career path looks like three years out," Lavoie said. "As a result, leaders may go quiet, because saying nothing feels safer than saying something that turns out to be wrong."
Her suggested remedy is transparency rather than polished certainty. "The most useful thing a leader can do right now is admit the plan is unfinished, and then keep talking anyway," she said. "Certainty is not what employees need from you right now. Candor is."
What the survey does not establish is whether the communication gap is causing measurable harm, such as reduced engagement or retention. It also does not say which industries or regions are most affected, nor whether employees who understand the rationale behind AI adoption use the tools differently. Culture Amp positions the report as a benchmark and says it intends to track workplace AI sentiment over the coming years, which may eventually address some of those questions.
For now, the picture is one of adoption running ahead of explanation. Workers appear willing to use the tools and report feeling more productive, while the strategic case for those tools remains, by the report's own framing, a work in progress at many employers.
The takeaway for organizations is less about whether to deploy AI and more about whether anyone has explained the reasoning. Employees responding to the survey suggest they have done their part; the open question is whether leadership will clarify the direction.