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Fear of AI disrupting jobs is high, with 52% of U.S. workers worried about its impact on their careers, according to an October 2024 Pew Research Center survey of over 5,000 adults. In addition, 32% believe AI will lead to fewer job opportunities.

On the flip side, 31% say AI will not have any impact on the workplace. And, workers who are already using AI in finance, banking, accounting, insurance, real estate, and technology are more likely to believe they’ll see increased job opportunities as a result of AI.

Who is using AI in the workplace?

According to Pew’s research, 16% of U.S. workers use AI for at least part of their jobs, and 57% of current AI usage in the workplace involves research-oriented chatbots.

Additional findings include:

• 40% of AI chatbot users agree that AI chatbots and large language models (LLMs) help them perform tasks more quickly.
• Only 29% of AI chatbot users believe that AI chatbots have improved the quality of their work.
• Workers aged 18 to 29 make up the largest group of AI users, with only 17% older than 29.
• 73% of those who currently use AI in the workplace are under the age of 50.
• 51% of AI users in the workplace hold a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Despite these findings, 55% of workers say they rarely or never use AI chatbots in the workplace. It seems that the technology hasn’t been quite as disruptive as some might think.

Realizing the full potential of an AI-driven workplace

Pew’s latest survey underscores some of the biggest and most common concerns with AI. While it’s easy to conclude that U.S. workers are pessimistic about the future of AI in the workplace, it’s important to remember that most types of AI models are still in their infancy stages of development and, as such, we have yet to see their full potential.