CEOs are relying on a combination of carrots and sticks to encourage employees to use artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence is expected by technology leaders to transform businesses, from the production of products to the delivery of services to the number of people employed.
But are they using it themselves? Not as much as I expected. New data shows that some CEOs and business executives spend less time with technology than their employees, and more than a quarter of them don’t use technology at all.
This gap risks deepening the divide between workers and leaders over how and to what extent AI will improve productivity and change the future of employment.
On the carrot side, bosses are encouraging employees to adopt and experiment with AI by handing out cash bonuses to employees and giving away goodies to employees who comply. More subtle tactics to accelerate AI adoption include tracking employee AI usage and incorporating AI fluency and enthusiasm for the technology into performance reviews.
But behind the C-suite door, the CEOs and executives imposing these rules are mostly casual users of AI itself. A new survey of more than 6,000 senior executives in four countries (US, UK, Germany, and Australia), co-authored by renowned economist Nicholas Bloom of Stanford University and 12 other academics, finds that nearly 70% of CEOs, CFOs, and senior executives use AI at work for less than an hour per week, and 28% of them do not use AI at all. Some leaders report using AI more frequently. 24% of respondents reported using AI between 1 and 5 hours per week, and 7% reported using AI for 5 or more hours during a typical workday.
According to the author’s survey of 3,000 U.S. employees, bosses in the U.S. spend 1.7 hours a week using AI, which is slightly less than employees’ 1.8 hours a week. (Survey subjects do not necessarily work at the same company as the executives.)
Perhaps even more remarkable is the large gap between worker and management expectations regarding AI. Executives surveyed said they expected AI to reduce employment by 0.7% for all companies and 1.2% for U.S. companies. Compare this to employees anticipating the adoption of AI. increase Corporate employment will increase by about 0.5% over the next three years. Executives are also much more bullish than employees about the productivity gains AI will bring, predicting U.S. growth of 2.3% over the next three years, compared to 0.9% expected by employees.
The new data reinforces the disconnect that already exists between executives touting AI and the lived experiences of users at the technology front. Study after study shows that the use of AI in the workplace is causing increased workload and cognitive overload. Even if efficiency increases, employees tend to quickly fill in the time saved with more work. While it may sound like a dream to business leaders, it will create a burnt-out workforce that makes poor decisions.
Bloom acknowledged that there are “two different stories here.” On the other hand, “employees know best. Bosses are drinking the Kool-Aid,” Bloom said in a talk explaining the research at the Charter’s Leading with AI Summit in San Francisco earlier this month. “And the employees are realistic.” But there’s another, perhaps more chilling argument for Mr. Bloom to buy a little more. “Employees probably don’t understand the big picture.”
He recounted a recent case of an executive who overheard an employee talking about how AI could improve their work efficiency. But the executive said his own thoughts were, “Do I just fire that employee or do I restructure the entire department?”
“I think the executives are probably right, but there are clear disagreements in society as a whole,” he said.
