Half of employees say they rely too much on AI, and 30 per cent feel they can't function without it: survey
The rate at which workers are currently using artificial intelligence (AI) could erode skills and increase risk for employers, according to a recent report.
Overall, 50 per cent of employees say they rely too much on AI at work, while 30 per cent feel they cannot function without it, reports GoTo.
The survey found that 39 per cent of workers believe this dependence on AI tools is “eroding their skills and making them less intelligent,” a concern shared by 46 per cent of Gen Z respondents.
Productivity gains and untapped potential
GoTo reports that AI is now embedded in most workplaces, with 82 per cent of employees using AI tools and saving an average of 2.3 hours per day.
“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,” says GoTo CEO Rich Veldran said.
Despite this, 80 per cent of employees admit they are not using AI to its full potential, and 69 per cent say they are not very familiar with how AI can be practically applied in their role. Veldran says “organizations need to invest in the right enablement, resources, and guardrails” so people can use AI effectively and safely.
The report notes that more than nine in 10 employees and IT leaders think their organisation should maintain or increase AI spending, underscoring the likelihood that HR teams will see continued expansion of AI‑driven tools in people processes.
According to a report released earlier, business leaders are confronting “AI fatigue” among staff who feel swamped, regardless of high levels of adoption.
Rising pressure and overreliance on AI
Sixty per cent of employees say they feel pressured to use AI to boost productivity, and 47 per cent report that AI usage is considered in performance reviews, according to GoTo. Nearly three in 10 workers (29 per cent) feel AI is doing their job better than they can, while 28 per cent say they have started trusting AI more than their own judgement.
GoTo finds that 41 per cent of employees, including 50 per cent of Gen Z, believe relying on AI too much will hurt their career prospects. These perceptions may influence engagement, retention and expectations around learning and development.
The company concludes that AI has “moved from a promising experiment to an everyday workplace reality,” but that responsible and effective use has not kept pace.
Misuse, ‘workslop’ and business impact
Seventy per cent of employees admit they have used AI for sensitive or high‑stakes tasks, according to GoTo’s findings. This includes:
- legal or compliance‑driven work (41 per cent)
- work requiring emotional intelligence (37 per cent)
- tasks impacting safety (31 per cent), high‑stakes strategic decisions (29 per cent), “ethical or sensitive personnel actions” (28 per cent), and tasks involving sensitive or confidential information (23 per cent).
Forty‑three per cent say they have used AI‑generated content despite suspecting it was low quality or might contain errors or fabricated information. Most respondents (77 per cent) say AI‑generated work takes more time to review than human work, and 66 per cent say reviewing other people’s AI “workslop” creates additional work for them.
Nearly one in four IT leaders report that AI mistakes have already affected customers, clients or their company’s bottom line, a risk that may extend to HR‑related decisions where AI is used in hiring, promotion or disciplinary processes.
Governance, training and skills gaps
Only 44 per cent of IT leaders say their organisation has an AI policy, and among those that do, 77 per cent of employees and 47 per cent of IT leaders believe it needs improvement. Eighty per cent of employees and 60 per cent of IT leaders say most workers are not being trained properly to use AI tools.
There is also a perception gap: 84 per cent of employees say their company is not doing enough to encourage responsible AI use, compared with 48 per cent of IT leaders.
GoTo reports that 65 per cent of employees feel employers are failing to equip people with the skills they need as AI takes over more work, citing the importance of checking AI for accuracy and bias, knowing when to trust AI outputs, and using human judgement alongside AI, as well as “human” skills such as creative thinking, emotional intelligence and leadership.
Half of workers say AI use should be mandatory at work, according to a previous report.
Here's a summary of how overreliance on AI can impact workers' skills and company performance, drawing from Canadian and international think tanks:
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Impact mechanism |
Source (Think Tank / Institution) |
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1 |
Cognitive debt and skill erosion: Used reflexively as a shortcut, AI creates “cognitive debt,” making people faster while quietly eroding their skills — boosting performance at work but quietly degrading core competencies over time. The risk is sharpest for junior workers, who lose the training‑ground experience of breaking down messy problems and defending their thinking. |
Work AI Institute (Glean), with researchers from Notre Dame, Harvard, and UC Santa Barbara |
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Decline in critical thinking and creativity: Drawing on interviews in 50 countries, researchers concluded that dependence on generative AI leads to a decrease in critical thinking skills, creativity, and comprehension, with one large study finding that increased AI tool use was associated with lower critical thinking scores, especially among young people who relied on AI for cognitive tasks. |
Brookings Institution |
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3 |
Illusion of competence and loss of worker confidence: Excessive and poorly designed AI use in workplaces is driving a “quiet cognitive erosion” and “down‑skilling,” where workers appear faster on paper while their skills are hollowed out; workers defer writing, analysis, and judgement to AI, gradually relying less on the skills built through years of reading, writing, learning, and observation. |
International Data Center Authority (digital‑economy think tank) |
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4 |
Polarization of the labour market: AI adoption in Canada is accelerating, with firm adoption rates nearly doubling from 2021 to 2023, but technological advancements pose risks of job displacement and polarization, particularly for routine, middle‑skill occupations — putting 57.4 per cent of workers in roles highly susceptible to AI‑driven disruption in 2024. |
Future Skills Centre and Conference Board of Canada (Canadian) |
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5 |
Stalled productivity gains without complementary capabilities: The C.D. Howe Institute finds that while AI offers a path to stronger economic performance, realising these gains requires policies that accelerate business adoption and diffusion, which remain uneven across most industries and regions; the impact of AI on productivity depends on a supportive ecosystem — encompassing digital infrastructure, workforce skills, and R&D — rather than the technology alone. |
C.D. Howe Institute (Canadian) and Conference Board of Canada (Canadian) |
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6 |
Ineffective deployment without AI literacy, plus loss of institutional knowledge: Without proper AI literacy and digital skills, workers may use these tools ineffectively or inappropriately, potentially reducing rather than enhancing productivity. The Macdonald‑Laurier Institute warns that firms should run “algorithmic impact assessments” for workplace AI systems, requiring employers to evaluate effects on workers before implementation, to flag negative impacts like stress or excessive surveillance — favouring human judgement, creativity, and domain‑specific expertise that are hardest to automate. |
Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP, Canadian) and Macdonald‑Laurier Institute (Canadian) |
