Although artificial intelligence has provided a huge boost to workforce productivity, 50% of employees say they rely too much on the technology, and 30% feel they can’t function without it. In addition, 39% feel their overreliance on AI tools is eroding their skills and making them less intelligent, with nearly half of Gen Z (46%) reporting that relying too much on AI is making them dumber.
These are some of the findings from The Pulse of Work in 2026: Opportunity, Risk, and Responsibility in an AI-Driven Workplace, a new report from cloud communications and IT solutions provider GoTo.
The report summarizes the findings of a survey of 2,500 global employees and IT leaders on AI use and sentiment, conducted in partnership with research firm Workplace Intelligence.
A big reason for this overreliance on AI may be the rising expectation to use it more in the workplace: 60% of employees report feeling pressured to use AI tools to boost their productivity. Combined with a lack of effective training, policies, and guardrails, this dynamic is leading many employees to use AI irresponsibly, creating real problems with AI misuse and “workslop.” This can also lead to serious consequences for businesses, as nearly one in four IT leaders say AI mistakes have already affected customers, clients, or their company’s bottom line.
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“The opportunity in front of us with AI is enormous. Employees are spending an estimated 2.6 hours every day on tasks that AI could handle, and in the U.S. alone, that translates to more than $2.9 trillion in potential efficiency gains annually,” GoTo CEO Rich Veldran said in a statement. “At the same time, 80% of employees admit they aren’t using AI to its full potential, and 69% aren’t very familiar with how it can be practically applied in their role. This is a big opportunity for companies. Organizations need to invest in the right enablement, resources, and guardrails to enable their people to bridge that gap—and when they do, the productivity and economic impact could be staggering. The goal isn’t just smarter technology; it’s a smarter, more empowered workforce.”
Other key findings from the report include:
- AI overreliance is affecting workforce confidence and career outlooks: Nearly three in 10 employees feel AI is doing their job better than they can (29%) and say they’ve started trusting AI more than their own judgment (28%). However, 41% of employees, including 50% of Gen Z, believe relying on AI too much will hurt their career prospects in the long run.
- Misuse of AI has risen dramatically: A shocking 70% of employees, up from 54% last year, admit they’ve used AI for sensitive or high-stakes tasks, such as legal or compliance-driven work (41%), work requiring emotional intelligence (37%), tasks impacting safety (31%), high-stakes strategic decisions (29%), ethical or sensitive personnel actions (28%), and tasks involving sensitive or confidential information (23%).
- Unchecked AI outputs are leading to AI “workslop”: 43% of employees say they’ve used AI-generated content despite suspecting it was low quality or might contain errors or fabricated information. Most respondents (77%) say AI-generated work takes more time to review than human work, and 66% say reviewing other people’s AI “workslop” creates additional work for them.
The study also identified solutions that can help companies drive more effective and responsible AI use, although employees and IT leaders don’t always align on the need for improvement. For example, while 84% of employees say their company could do more to encourage responsible AI use, only 48% of IT leaders agree.
According to GoTo, the following are strategies companies can use to support responsible AI usage:
- Improve policies and training: Just 44% of IT leaders say their company has an AI policy. Even at companies that have an AI policy in place, most employees (77%) and around half of IT leaders (47%) feel the policy needs improvement. In addition, 80% of employees and 60% of IT leaders say most workers aren’t being trained properly to use AI tools.
- Help employees develop the skills to work alongside AI: 65% of employees say employers are failing to equip people with the skills they need as AI takes over more work. Checking AI for accuracy and bias, knowing when to trust AI outputs, and using human judgment alongside AI were seen as the most important skills to have. Workers also say “human” skills like creative thinking, emotional intelligence, and leadership capabilities will be critical in the AI-driven workplace.
- Offer the practical AI tools employees want: Most employees say AI tools that help with data entry and email management (88%) communication (87%), administrative tasks (85%), content creation (83%), and customer support (82%) would be valuable to them. Meanwhile, IT leaders say they most want practical AI tools that assist with security and compliance (98%), performance insights and troubleshooting (97%), and real-time analytics (97%). These tools allow employees and IT to focus on higher value work while leveraging the uniquely human skills and judgment that AI cannot replace.
- Develop practices to reliably measure ROI: Despite a majority of IT leaders (62%) saying more than 20% of their budget is allocated to AI-related technologies or projects, 43% of these leaders also say their company is not measuring the return on investment of their AI tools very well. As AI implementations scale, businesses need to more effectively measure and evaluate the ROI of AI tools.
“Responsible AI use is about having the right tools and supporting the people who use them,” Dan Schawbel, managing partner of Workplace Intelligence, said in a statement. “Our research highlights the importance of equipping employees with the skills, policies, and guidance they need to work alongside AI effectively. Companies that get this right will see productivity gains while ensuring their workforce remains confident, capable, and engaged.”
Photo credit: geralt/Pixabay
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