CEOs are talking a lot about generative AI, calling it a transformative technology and hoping it will turbocharge productivity. Just one problem: Many workers, worried they’ll look replaceable, are afraid to admit they use it. A new report from Microsoft and LinkedIn looks at AI usage among workers.
getty Just over half of employees who use AI at work—52%—say they’re reluctant to divulge they’re applying it to their most important tasks, and roughly the same number worry that using it on critical tasks in their job makes them look replaceable, according to the latest Work Trend Index from Microsoft and LinkedIn. Still, workers are clearly using the new tech: Some 75% of full-time office workers surveyed said they’re now using AI at work—up from 46% six months ago—and more than three-quarters are turning to their own tools rather than company-provided ones, a phenomenon Microsoft calls “BYOAI.” The annual report, released Wednesday, draws from a survey of 31,000 full-time workers, as well as LinkedIn labor and hiring data and usage data Microsoft captures from customers using its software.
While the survey was commissioned by Microsoft—which sells its Copilot AI tool and has a big stake in artificial intelligence firm OpenAI —it still offers a snapshot of how workers and companies are using generative AI and thinking about it as the tech shifts from shiny new object to a tool that’s quickly reshaping how work gets done. “ The first thing we really s.
