Latest research shows a ripe opportunity for AI agents to address key blockers and help accelerate AI adoption among workers

Despite continued urgency on the part of business leaders and growing interest in AI among employees, AI adoption in the U.S. is cooling, according to the new Slack Workforce Index. AI adoption rates among U.S. workers have slowed over the last three months — growing from 32% to just 33% (compared to an 8 percentage point increase a year ago).

In addition to a lack of training from employers, the research points to uncertainty and discomfort around AI usage causing the slowdown in U.S. companies. Seventy-six percent of workers feel an urgency to become an AI expert, and yet almost half of U.S. workers report feeling uncomfortable admitting AI use to their managers for fear they might be seen as incompetent, lazy, or cheating.

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Why it matters: Companies can’t afford to have AI adoption stall out. According to McKinsey, AI could increase corporate profits by $4.4 trillion a year, and Salesforce research finds that sales teams using AI are 1.3x more likely to see revenue increase than those who don’t use it. To realize the benefits of AI, however, employers need to encourage employees to use the technology and equip them with the training and guidance needed to work successfully in the new agentic era.

Salesforce perspective: “A lot of the burden has been put on workers to figure out how to use AI. But the arrival of AI agents – with clearly defined roles and guidelines – can help accelerate adoption, alleviating the ambiguity and anxiety many workers feel around using AI at work,” said Christina Janzer, ​​SVP of Research and Analytics at Slack.

But the arrival of AI agents — with clearly defined roles and guidelines — can help accelerate adoption, alleviating the ambiguity and anxiety many workers feel around using AI at work.

Christina Janzer, ​​SVP of Research and Analytics at Slack

Detailed global findings: 

Workers hide AI use out of fear, confusion

Without clear guidance, workers are confused about when it is socially and professionally acceptable to use AI at work — and are keeping their usage under wraps.

• Nearly half (48%) of all desk workers said they are uncomfortable admitting to their manager that they used AI for common workplace tasks. 
• Among those who said they are uncomfortable, the top reasons include:
  1. Feeling like using AI is cheating 
  2. Fear of being seen as less competent 
  3. Fear of being seen as lazy 

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On the other hand, workers who are comfortable sharing AI use with their manager are 67% more likely to have used it for work.

Workers aren’t using AI to focus on executive priorities

The data reveals a disconnect between what leadership wants employees to focus on and what workers expect they’ll focus on with the time saved by AI. Execs want employees to prioritize upskilling and innovation, while employees expect to use the time saved by AI to catch up on busy work and existing projects.

The top areas that execs want employees to prioritize to move the business forward are:

1. Learning and skill-building
2. Innovation
3. More work on existing projects

What employees expect they will do with the time AI helps them to save:

1. Administrative tasks
2. More work on existing core projects
3. Learning and skill-building

Workers expect AI-savvy employers

Despite uncertainty around AI in their current workplace, workers want to skill up on AI — 76% even feel an urgency to become an AI expert. However, 61% of workers have spent less than five hours total learning how to use AI, and 30% say they’ve had no AI training at all, including no self-directed learning or experimentation.

Employers will need to solve for the gap in training and get clear about AI guidelines, as current employees and new professionals entering the workforce will gravitate to more supportive workplaces.

• Workers with guidance to use AI saw a 13 percentage point increase in AI adoption since January, while workers with no guidance saw an increase of only 2 percentage points.
• 3 out of 4 workers say that a prospective employer’s ability to provide and enable workers with AI tools is a factor in their job search.
• Nearly 2 in 5 workers say they’d prefer working for companies that provide AI tools and enable their use.
• People in their first job are 1.8x times more likely to say AI enablement is a “very important factor” in their job search.

More information:

• Dig deeper into the Slack Workforce Index results and learn how leaders can encourage employee adoption 
• Read about the five distinct AI personas that employers need to understand 
• Find more stats and data on worker AI adoption in the Salesforce stat library
• Get more insights on AI agent trends

Methodology: The survey included 17,372 workers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K., and the U.S. and was fielded between August 2 and August 30, 2024.

The survey was administered by Qualtrics and did not target Slack or Salesforce employees or customers. Respondents were all desk workers, defined as employed full-time (30 or more hours per week) and either having one of the roles listed below or saying they “work with data, analyze information or think creatively”: executive management (e.g. president/partner, CEO, CFO, C-suite), senior management (e.g. executive VP, senior VP), middle management (e.g. department/group manager, VP), junior management (e.g. manager, team leader), senior staff (e.g. non-management), skilled office worker (e.g. analyst, graphic designer).