finance
Survey Shows 80% of Workers Avoid or Reject Company AI Tools Despite Rising Investments
A global survey by WalkMe found that 54% of workers bypassed company AI tools in the past 30 days, opting for manual work, while 33% have not used AI at all. This resistance occurs as digital transformation budgets increased 38% year-over-year to $54.2 million on average. Executives and employees show significant gaps in perceptions of AI trust and tool adequacy.
Apr 9, 6:00 AM·2m read1 source
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A survey conducted by SAP subsidiary WalkMe across 3,750 executives and employees in 14 countries revealed widespread avoidance of company-provided AI tools. The report, titled the fifth annual State of Digital Adoption, indicated that 54% of workers bypassed these tools in the past 30 days and completed tasks manually.
An additional 33% reported not using AI at all, resulting in approximately 80% of enterprise workers either avoiding or rejecting the technology.
2 million, according to the report. However, 40% of this spending has underperformed due to adoption failures. The survey highlights a disconnect between executives and employees in their views on AI implementation.
Only 9% of workers trust AI for complex, business-critical decisions, compared to 61% of executives, creating a 52-point gap. Additionally, 88% of executives believe employees have adequate tools, while only 21% of workers agree, resulting in a 67-point difference. These discrepancies suggest executives and employees are describing different experiences within the same organizations.
trends showed employees using personal AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude without company approval.
An MIT study from last year found that employees at more than 90% of companies used personal chatbot accounts for daily tasks, even though only 40% of those companies had official large language model subscriptions. This 'shadow AI' usage was common for tasks that previously took hours but could be completed in minutes.
The current survey data indicates a shift, with workers now avoiding official AI tools.
Reasons include concerns over effectiveness and integration challenges. Management has viewed unauthorized use as a governance issue, while workers saw it as a means to complete work efficiently. Economist Steve Hanke from Johns Hopkins University commented on AI's impact.
