HR has an opportunity—if not a responsibility—to guide team members who are eagerly using AI as a tool at work.
By Gillian Manning
Workers are adopting AI faster than their employers are providing direction on how to do it properly. A survey from Idealis found that generative AI use among U.S. workers climbed to 62%–up 16 percentage points from last year. Contrasting that, though, is that just 40% of workers say their company has clear guidelines in place for the use of AI.
Among the more than 15,000 workers Idealis surveyed, a trend emerged: When companies set clear guidelines for AI, employees thrive—boosting engagement to 66% (versus 54% without guidance) and expanding access to skill-building opportunities from 56% to 80%.
“Adoption was never going to be the hard part for AI at work,” says Dr. Sumona De Graaf, founder and CEO of Idealis. “The technology is accessible and widely useful to a broad range of jobs, professions and industries. The hard part is setting the guardrails, providing training, and earning trust from the top, so that people feel guided rather than left to figure it out on their own. The organizations that already have clear AI guidelines in place are experiencing a workforce that is ready and motivated to learn, try and embrace the tools available to them. That’s the case for leaders to step up now, not later.”
Idealis also found that:
- 72% of employees who use AI report concern about their own job security, compared to 46% of those who don’t use AI;
- 76% of leaders use AI at work, compared to 61% of non-leaders; and
- The leading industries in AI adoption are financial services (86%), education (85%), information and professional services (75%), and health services (69%).
“Where trust or clear expectations are missing, AI exposes the fault lines first. Where the foundation is strong, it reveals that too,” De Graaf says.
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