Gen Z hates AI, and almost half admit to sabotaging the rollouts of AI in their companies, in an attempt to make it seem less effective. Well played! Others are sharing sensitive data with AI, willy-nilly. What could go wrong?
Entry-level workers are full of fear and loathing, and so are senior executives, actually, 73% of whom are experiencing anxiety over their companies’ AI strategy. The executives don’t seem to hate AI yet, maybe because they just can’t imagine it taking their jobs, which is extremely naive of them.
When Distrust Turns Hostile
The generational divide also extends to the corporate world directly, where employees are reportedly sabotaging their company’s use of AI. A new report, which surveyed 2,400 workers from the U.S., U.K., and Europe, shows that 29% of employees have admitted to sabotaging their company’s use of AI. The number rises to 44% when talking about Gen Z.
The sabotage manifests in different ways. Some employees feed their company’s proprietary information into public AI, whereas some refuse to use it outright, while others purposely pump out inferior work while utilizing AI. It’s worth noting that the report was commissioned by an AI company, WRITER, in collaboration with the research firm Workplace Intelligence.
While articles about employees sabotaging AI have been popping up all over the internet for the last few days, other key stats from the report have strangely flown under the radar.
The top-to-bottom anxiety doesn’t change the fact that 69% are laying people off due to AI. Despite all, almost 40% don’t have a strategy, and 75% say the company’s AI strategy is for show, but that doesn’t stop them from cutting jobs!
The report nearly elicited sympathy for the C-suite: “61% of executives fear they could lose their job if they fail to lead their organization through the AI transition.”
Suddenly, Gen Z’s distrust of AI seems to make a lot more sense.
Everyone’s Nervous, No One’s in Control
A new Gallup report says that Gen Z’s adoption of AI in the past year has flatlined, while negative sentiment has skyrocketed. According to the report, Gen Z’s excitement for AI dropped 14% in the past year, while anger about the disruptive technology rose by 9%. Additionally, Gen Z is reported to be skeptical that AI “enhances creativity, critical thinking or even efficiency.”
Gen Z, like the rest of the world, is being force-fed AI in all its incarnations. Like having to rely on a coworker you view as toxic, or live with a bad roommate, more exposure to this thing/person would naturally lead to greater distrust. It’s not paradoxical, like the title of the Gallup report suggests. It’s common sense.
American Gen Z’s worries about AI are far-reaching, their wariness extending into the workplace. Almost half of those polled felt that the “risks of AI outweigh its benefits,” whereas human-only output was far more greatly trusted.
Forced Adoption, Growing Resistance
This distrust extends to Europe as well, where Gen Z, more than any other generation, is reported to distrust how their companies use AI. And yet, European Gen Z uses AI far more than other generations. This phenomenon is similar in the United States. While wary of AI, Gen Z fully recognizes AI will play a prominent role in their professional lives.
According to the Gallup report: “Despite their reticence to engage with AI, Gen Z students are increasingly clear‐eyed about what the future demands: An increased majority now agree they will need AI skills for postsecondary education, and most believe they will be adequately prepared.”
They’ll Use It, But They Don’t Trust It
This should be unsurprising considering the ongoing “charm offensive” by the AI industry. Sam Altman and his ilk often talk of entire classes of jobs going the way of the dodo. If his vision of the future proves to be true, the jobs that remain, or those that are created as a result of the disruption, will rely heavily on AI.
Gen Z can see the writing on the wall as well as anybody else and are increasingly unhappy about the situation.
The global professional services firm Ernst & Young (EY), released its own 2024 report delving into Gen Z’s habits and attitudes relating to AI. EY’s report, featuring sunny photographs of smiling teenagers holding smartphones like they just got a new puppy, clearly comes from a more corporate angle than the one recently released by Gallup. The title says it all: “How can we upskill Gen Z as fast as we can train AI?”
The Corporate Spin Machine
Therein lies the conundrum – the corporate world is fully invested in AI and doesn’t make decisions based on younger people’s unease with the technology. This generational divide was recently taken to an extreme level when a twenty-year-old man threw a Molotov cocktail at Altman’s house.
The news commentariat were quick to sympathize with Altman, whereas a sizable amount of Gen Z, communicating via more informal digital media, showed support for the attack. One asked, “Is the Molotov cocktail alright?”
Author: Tim Tolka, Senior Reporter
See Also:
“The AI Layoff Trap”: Congratulations, You’ve Been Automated
