60 percent of employees fear AI is eroding their skills
In two IBM and Oxford Economics surveys, 60 percent of employees said they worried AI was eroding their skills. While 71 percent of human resources executives called supervising, validating and overriding AI output essential, only 29 percent of employees prioritized judgment, highlighting a gap in how workplaces are preparing people to remain responsible for AI-assisted decisions.
Artificial Intelligence··Midday
Two surveys measured one divide
IBM Institute for Business Value, the company's research unit, and consultancy Oxford Economics ran two surveys from April through June. They covered 1,500 human resources executives across 21 geographies and 23 industries, plus 8,800 full-time employees in 28 countries. 60 percent of employees worried that using AI was eroding their skills, and critical thinking was the ability they most often identified as declining. The executive sample included organizations with annual revenue or budgets ranging from 250 million dollars to 123.7 billion dollars and workforces ranging from 200 people to more than 880,000.[1], [2]
Priorities split over judgment
71 percent of human resources executives called the ability to supervise, validate and override AI output essential for the workforce. Only 29 percent of employees selected judgment as an important skill. Critical thinking and problem framing appeared among the priorities of 57 percent of executives and 49 percent of employees. These are self-reported priorities, and they show the two groups approaching the same workplace shift with different preparation needs.[1], [2]
Oversight adds work and accountability
80 percent of executives said AI creates invisible work such as validating recommendations, correcting errors, adding context and handling exceptions. 42 percent of employees said AI increased their workload or left the extra effort unrecognized, while 43 percent said they were blamed when an AI-related problem occurred. At 46 percent of organizations, the chief human resources officer was not involved in defining AI strategy, separating workforce preparation from decisions about accountability. Only 28 percent of organizations reported a joint roadmap between human resources and information technology, while 73 percent of executives struggled to coordinate consistently across senior management. 72 percent of human resources organizations made limited or no use of AI themselves.[1], [2]
