AI can make work feel easier and more enjoyable while also making workers worry about job security, monitoring, and how employers will use it. Surveys capture both experiences, but they measure different populations and perceptions; together, they show a tension, not proof that productivity gains cause anxiety.
What workers report about AI at work
The clearest broad pattern is that perceived help with work tasks and concern about AI can coexist. The figures below come from separate surveys with different populations, questions, and dates. They should not be combined into a single measure of workplace sentiment.
| Source and population | What respondents reported | What the measure means |
|---|---|---|
| OECD, 2024: workers and employers in its workplace-AI survey evidence | Four in five workers said AI improved their performance at work; three in five said it increased their enjoyment of work. | Workers’ reported perceptions, not a measured increase in output. The OECD says benefits depend on addressing risks. OECD, Using AI in the workplace: Opportunities, risks and policy responses. |
| Pew Research Center, 2025: U.S. workers | 52% felt worried about how AI may be used in the workplace in the future; 36% felt hopeful, 33% overwhelmed, and 29% excited. | Reported feelings about future workplace use. These feelings are not mutually exclusive, and worry was not the only response. Pew Research Center, Workers’ views of AI use in the workplace. |
| American Psychological Association, 2024: U.S. workers | 41% worried AI might eventually make some or all of their job duties obsolete. | A concern about possible future job duties, not a finding that those duties have already disappeared. APA, 2024 Work in America survey. |
| Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, 2026: survey waves at the end of 2024 and end of 2025 | The share worried about losing their own job because of AI rose from 5% to just over 10%. | A measure of personal job-loss concern. It is distinct from the larger share expecting AI-related layoffs or workforce decreases in their industry. The analysis reports survey relationships and modeled estimates, not proof that productivity gains cause anxiety. Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Workers’ Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence: Productivity Gains and Job-loss Fears. |
These results are not contradictory. Someone may find that AI speeds up a task today and still be unsure whether the employer will change the role, monitor work differently, or reduce staffing later. The surveys establish reported benefits and concerns, not a single cause-and-effect story.
Why productivity gains can sit beside anxiety
Task help does not answer what happens to the job
AI may help with a particular work task without settling how a role will be redesigned or which skills will matter next. The OECD’s 2024 policy paper places perceived improvements in performance and enjoyment alongside risks such as work intensity, data collection and use, and inequality. A better experience with one task therefore does not guarantee confidence about the wider consequences of deployment.
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Workers may not know the rules
In APA’s 2024 U.S. survey, 18% of workers said they knew their employer had an official policy on acceptable employee uses of AI. Half said their employer had no such policy, and 32% were unsure. These are respondents’ awareness and perceptions, not an audit of employers’ actual policies. Still, uncertainty about what is allowed can make new tools harder to use with confidence.
Individual efficiency and organizational impact differ
A Gartner study reported productivity gains at the individual level alongside complications and anxiety in supply-chain organizations. It was based on 265 global supply-chain respondents surveyed in August 2024 and 75 qualitative interviews, so it should not be treated as representative of all workers. Gartner is a research vendor, and its findings are sector-specific. The study’s distinction is useful: an individual saving time does not by itself show that an organization has improved overall productivity. Gartner, Gartner Survey Shows Supply Chain GenAI Productivity Gains at Individual Level, While Creating New Complications for Organizations.
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How to read claims about AI taking jobs
Job-related percentages can sound similar while answering different questions. A worker who fears losing their own position is not making the same judgment as one who expects employment to shrink across an industry. Nor does reported worry show that job losses have occurred.
The Boston Fed’s analysis separates personal job-loss concern from expectations of industry-wide job reductions. It also reports that perceived productivity gains and job-security perceptions move together in its analysis. That relationship does not establish that productivity gains cause either confidence or anxiety. The survey evidence is about respondents’ views and modeled estimates, not a controlled test of why those views arise.
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Scope matters too. The OECD’s 2023 survey report covered 5,334 workers and 2,053 firms in manufacturing and finance across Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It found that roughly 80% of AI users said AI improved their work performance, while some respondents had concerns about job stability and wages. Those results are informative for the surveyed sectors and countries, but they do not represent every occupation or worker globally. OECD, The impact of AI on the workplace: Main findings from the OECD AI surveys of employers and workers.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What workers and employers can take from the evidence
For workers
- Separate what AI currently helps you do from what you fear it may change. One is an experience with tasks; the other is an expectation about future work.
- Ask which AI tools are approved for work, what information may be entered, and how the employer expects the tools to be used. Clear answers matter especially when work involves sensitive data.
- Track whether a tool actually reduces effort or simply shifts time into checking, correcting, or handling more work. Perceived task speed and a better overall work experience are not identical.
For employers
- Explain acceptable uses of AI and provide accessible rules, rather than leaving employees to infer them.
- Be clear about how AI use relates to data collection, monitoring, job design, and staffing decisions. These are among the concerns raised by the evidence, not outcomes any survey shows can be resolved by a policy alone.
- Evaluate organizational results as well as individual time savings. A faster task is not sufficient evidence that overall work has improved.
The surveys make clear why communication and policy are relevant, but they do not prove that any one intervention eliminates anxiety. Outcomes will depend on how tools are deployed and how employers address risks.
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