The takeaway: Believing in the massive productivity gains promised by artificial intelligence providers, many employers have pushed workers to use generative AI as much as possible. However, recent research suggests uncertainty is driving employees to exaggerate or fake their AI use to please their bosses. Above all, workers want clearer guidance on using the technology.
According to the findings, which come from research conducted in part by business intelligence firm Visier, nearly half of surveyed US employees misreport how much they use generative AI in the workplace.
In a trend the company calls "Performative AI," 48% of 1,000 surveyed full-time US employees said they exaggerated their AI usage or expertise to coworkers or bosses. The main reason is that workers want to appear experienced with AI tools but don't get enough training or guidance on them. Almost half of those surveyed, around 45%, say they feel pressured to use AI but aren't confident they can do so effectively.
Uncertainty surrounding AI tools and employers' plans for the technology is the main theme in Visier's results. Many employees say their leaders don't fully understand AI's capabilities or how it truly affects the workplace.
Only 28% say their employers understand AI usage in the workplace, 29% think leaders fully grasp their AI-related concerns, and just 33% believe their bosses understand how much training they need. Furthermore, 32% say their employers don't have clear plans to gauge AI's impact on the workplace, and 27% doubt their bosses have any plans.
Most importantly, employees say they want more training and clearer instructions on how to use AI. Almost one-third, about 32%, want more training and opportunities to boost their skills; 31% want more transparency, and 18% want clearer messaging about AI's impact on their jobs.
Companies that invest heavily in AI – after Nvidia, Microsoft, and OpenAI promised them an explosion in productivity – have been monitoring employee AI usage for some time. Last year, Microsoft implemented tools to help companies gauge Copilot usage by essentially turning it into a game.
However, similar practices at Amazon earlier this year led employees to inflate usage to top leaderboards. Although the company said it doesn't judge employees based on AI use, sources claim token usage factors into performance evaluations. Meanwhile, Duolingo has already ceased similar practices this year.
While some employees in Visier's survey say AI increased team cohesion, several programmers previously complained that the pressure to use the technology atrophied their skills. The top commentator responding to a recent Ars Technica report on AI coding echoed this sentiment, saying that leaders don't understand what's happening on the ground and that much of their work now consists of filtering bad AI-written code.