Remember when AI first started making headlines? Suddenly, it felt like everyone was talking about it — especially at work. For many, the big question wasn’t how AI could help, but if it would take over their job. 

Fast forward a few years, and AI is no longer just a futuristic concept. But how do people feel about it now? Has the initial fear faded, or are concerns about job security still lingering? To find out, Kickresume surveyed 1,483 professionals across industries to see where they stand on AI today.

Here are some of the most thought provoking survey findings:

  • A total of 57% of respondents say they love AI and think it adds value to their life.
  • 51% said they use it every day, and another 32% use it a few times a week. 
  • Chatbots (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini) take the crown for the most used AI tool, with 78% of respondents picking them as their go-to.
  • Nearly 90% of respondents say AI has made their job easier. 
  • 21% of respondents either lost their job because of AI or personally know someone who did.
  • 37% of respondents now feel the need to actively learn AI-related skills to remain relevant in their field.

The deep impact of AI seems to be true, but love prevails over concerns

When AI first went mainstream around 2021/22, it sparked a lot of uncertainty. Nobody really knew what to expect, and many were unsure about the impact AI would have on their lives. But now, a few years later, people have had the time (and first-hand experience) to form their own opinions. 

And our survey results show that the general feeling about AI is mostly positive:

  • A total of 57% of respondents say they love AI and think it adds value to their life.
  • 23% admitted to having a love/hate relationship with AI, appreciating its benefits while also feeling frustrated by it. 
  • 9% of respondents said they use AI only because they have to, which suggests that for some, AI adoption is more of an expectation than a personal preference. 
  • Another 7% acknowledged AI’s potential but currently find it useless. 
  • 4% believe AI creates more problems than it solves. 
  • And less than 1% of respondents dismissed AI as a mere gimmick. 

Looking at these numbers through the lens of different industries, skepticism toward AI appears to be stronger in certain fields. The respondents who called AI a gimmick were overwhelmingly from Arts & Design and Education & Academia. This may reflect the ongoing debates about AI’s role in creative and knowledge-based professions. 

Overall, while opinions on AI remain varied, the data shows that outright rejection of AI is rare. AI is no longer an abstract concept or a distant concern — it’s here, it’s working, and for the most part, people are on board.

AI has become a daily companion to 51% of workers

Now that AI has become such a regular part of our professional lives, it’s not just about how people feel about it anymore. The more pressing question is how much it’s truly impacting their day-to-day tasks. That's why we wanted to find out how often workers are actually turning to AI as part of their workflow.

As it turns out, the majority of our respondents reported using AI regularly. In fact, 51% said they use it every day, and another 32% use it a few times a week. That’s a pretty clear sign that for many workers, AI has become a regular part of their daily routine. 

On the other hand, 10% of respondents use AI just a few times a month, and only 3% said they use it a few times a year. The remaining 4% don’t use it at all.

Looking at the frequency of AI use by age group, there are some interesting patterns:

  • Gen Z and Millennials use AI more frequently than the overall average, with 54% of each group reporting daily use, compared to 51% across all age groups. 
  • In contrast, Baby Boomers and Gen X use AI less often, with 44% and 48% reporting daily use, respectively. 

While younger workers are clearly using AI more often, the gap between generations isn’t as overwhelming as we might expect. This suggests that AI has become accessible enough for all ages — even though there’s a common belief that older generations may find it harder to use new technology.

When we compare these numbers to our earlier findings from 2021, we'll get a better idea of the sheer speed with which AI became a part of our professional lives. Back then, only 39% of workers said they used some form of automation at work. Today, if we combine those who use AI daily, a few times a week, or even just a few times a month, that number has more than doubled. 

To further illustrate this point, we also asked workers how their AI usage has changed compared to last year. Here’s what they told us:

  • Much more: 57%
  • A bit more: 27%
  • About the same: 11%
  • A bit less: 4%
  • Much less: 1%

With 84% of respondents saying they now use AI more than they did a year ago, it’s clear that AI adoption isn’t slowing down — it’s accelerating. This suggests that as AI tools improve and become more accessible, workers are finding new ways to integrate them into their daily routines. 

Chatbots take center stage, with 78% of workers relying on them

As our data shows, AI tools are pretty much everywhere now. But some are clearly more popular (or useful) than others. While plenty of options exist, a few have become workplace staples, while others remain more niche.

So, which AI tools are workers turning to the most? Here’s what our respondents said:

What’s particularly interesting here is the universal trend we see across industries and generations. The top three tools — chatbots, writing assistants, and research tools — are consistently the most popular, no matter the profession or the age group. 

Workers are clearly embracing AI tools, but their use isn’t just a personal choice — it also depends on how employers approach AI in the workplace. Are they encouraging it? Forcing it? Or leaving employees to figure it out on their own?

To get a clearer picture, we asked workers about their experiences with AI use policies at work: 

  • Nobody cares if I use it or not: 46%
  • I'm encouraged but it's optional: 34%
  • Yes, I am pressured/required to use AI: 8%
  • It’s discouraged but not prohibited: 7%
  • No, it’s prohibited to use AI at my work: 5%

This suggests that for many companies, AI adoption isn’t being forced on employees — it’s more about offering the tools and letting individuals decide how they use them. Moreover, more people feel pushed to use AI (8%) than barred from it (5%).

With companies largely leaving AI adoption up to their employees, it’s clear that the demand for AI in the workplace isn’t coming from the top down — it seems to be coming from workers themselves. Employees are the ones actively choosing to integrate AI into their workflow, not because they’re being forced to, but because they find it useful. 

AI’s impact is gargantuan—yet mostly positive

If workers are the ones driving AI adoption in the workplace, the next big question is: How much of an impact has it actually had? Has it matched expectations, or has reality turned out to be different?

When we asked workers whether AI had changed their jobs more or less than expected, nearly seven in ten said it had a bigger impact than they anticipated. 

  • 35% reported that AI had transformed their work much more than they expected, while another 34% said it had impacted them slightly more than they had predicted.
  • Meanwhile, 24% felt AI had influenced their work about as expected, and only a small minority — 7% in total — said it had affected them less than they thought it would.

These numbers make one thing clear: AI is surpassing expectations for a significant majority of workers. Nearly 70% of respondents — across industries and age groups — say AI has had a stronger influence on their work than they initially predicted.

Given that the vast majority of respondents use AI regularly — 51% daily and 32% a few times a week — it makes sense that many feel its impact has been bigger than expected. And based on what numbers tell us, it looks like its influence has been mostly positive.

In fact, our data overwhelmingly points to AI making work easier, not harder. Nearly 90% of respondents say AI has simplified their jobs, with 48% reporting that it has made their work much easier and another 41% saying it has made things slightly easier. Only a small fraction — just 3% — feel that AI has made their work harder.

One possible explanation could be that AI adoption happens in small steps, but its effects snowball over time. Workers may have started with occasional AI use for simple tasks, only to realize that it can streamline much more than they expected. 

Another key factor is how rapidly AI technology itself is advancing. The AI tools available today are far more sophisticated than what existed even a year or two ago, exceeding everybody's expectations. 

If anything, these numbers reinforce what we’ve seen so far: AI isn’t just something workers are tolerating; it’s something they’re actively embracing because it makes their job easier.

Time-saver! Brainstormer! Repetition reducer! AI helps across the board

Building on the fact that AI is already making work easier for so many, we were curious to find out exactly how it’s helping workers.

The top benefit, as pointed out by 46% of respondents, is the time-saving aspect of AI. Creativity is another area where AI is making a noticeable difference, with 23% of workers mentioning that AI helps them brainstorm and generate new ideas.

Additionally, AI’s role in reducing repetitive tasks was highlighted by 11% of respondents. By freeing up time from mundane tasks, AI allows employees to concentrate on more strategic and critical parts of their roles.

AI is also helping workers refine their communication. 10% of respondents said they use AI to improve writing and grammar. Moreover, 4% reported that AI aids in decision-making and minimizes mistakes (also 4%).

However, not everyone sees these benefits. 2% of workers feel that AI hasn’t brought significant improvements to their work, which may suggest that its advantages are still being discovered or may not apply to all roles equally.

Overall, these results suggest that the reason why AI is experiencing such a boom among employees is the fact that it allows workers to become more productive, accurate, and even innovative. Our respondents aren't just adopting AI for the sake of it — they’re embracing it because it’s actually adding value to their work.

Future AI addiction? Fifth of workers fear over-reliance and misinformation

Of course, every coin has two sides, and with AI adoption, it's no different. While many workers are benefiting from the technology’s ability to simplify their daily tasks, there are some concerns that come with its increasing integration into the workplace. 

The top concern was over-reliance on AI — 19% of respondents said they’re worried about becoming too dependent on the technology. Right behind that, misinformation or inaccuracies was a concern for 18%, with workers questioning the reliability of AI-generated content. 

Job displacement came in third with 18%. This is an intriguing result because it’s actually a drop from a few years ago when 29% of people feared AI would take their jobs. This shift shows that workers may be warming up to the idea of AI as a tool to enhance their work rather than replace them.

Then there’s loss of creativity and originality, which was a concern for 15% of respondents. This one particularly stands out because, as we saw earlier, 23% of workers said AI helps with creativity during brainstorming sessions, so there seems to be a bit of a paradox here. While AI can stimulate creative ideas, there's a fear that it might diminish human originality. 

Moving on, data privacy and security risks were flagged by 12% of respondents, but this concern has gone down from our previous survey where 51% and 43% of people were worried about data security and privacy, respectively. It seems like as AI tools have evolved, some of those worries are easing, possibly because of improved safeguards and protocols. 

Lastly, ethical issues or bias in AI came up for 6%, and lack of human oversight was a concern for 5%.

Workers still worry about things like job displacement and privacy, but the growing comfort with AI suggests that, for many, these concerns may be starting to feel more manageable. The conversation seems to be moving from outright fear of AI to a more nuanced understanding of how to strike the right balance when integrating it into work.

Job displacement due to the AI, emerging threat among employees

Even though concerns about job displacement have slipped lower on the list of main worries regarding AI use at work, that doesn’t mean the threat of losing your job to a robot is gone completely. 

When we asked our respondents whether they or anyone they know had actually lost a job because of AI, a significant 79% of people said they hadn’t experienced any job loss due to AI. However, 11% reported that they personally lost their job, and another 10% know someone who had.

Just for comparison, our 2021 survey revealed that 77% of workers believed their jobs were completely safe from automation. The 79% who say they haven’t lost a job to AI now somewhat confirms this sense of security, and even surpasses it by 2%. 

But, the fact that 21% of respondents either lost their job or know someone who did offers a different perspective. That’s one in five people, which is a significant portion of the workforce.This aligns with the 23% of workers from our 2021 survey who were worried AI might eventually take their job. 

What does this tell us? Simply put, 21% is a worrying figure — that’s not a small percentage. It indicates that job loss due to AI is happening right now, and if this trend continues, we can expect it to grow. The reality is that even though many workers still feel secure in their roles, the idea that AI will eventually impact employment is far from a distant threat. 

Adapting to the future, people reconsider career plans due to the age of AI

Our survey shows that workers are more aware of AI than ever — not just how it can make their jobs easier, but also how it might threaten their job security. But they aren’t just sitting back and waiting to see what happens. Many are already adjusting their career strategies to stay ahead of the curve.

Our data shows that 37% of respondents now feel the need to actively learn AI-related skills to remain relevant in their field. Meanwhile, 28% have started considering switching to a more AI-proof career altogether. That means nearly two-thirds of workers (65%) are making career adjustments because of AI — whether that’s by upskilling or planning a complete career shift.

At the same time, 31% say AI hasn’t influenced their career plans at all, while a smaller 4% aren’t making any changes yet but do worry about how AI might impact their future. 

With AI gaining influence, all age groups recognize the need to adapt:

  • Gen X feels the most pressure to upskill, with 43% saying they now have to learn AI skills to stay relevant.
  • Millennials and Gen Z are more open to career shifts, with 29% in each group considering switching to a more AI-proof job.
  • Baby Boomers mirror younger generations, with 38% prioritizing AI upskilling and 28% thinking about career shifts.

These patterns suggest that mid-career professionals are working to secure their positions, while younger workers are exploring more flexible career paths. Even Baby Boomers are adjusting, which shows that AI’s impact is being felt across all age groups. 

Final thoughts

AI has come a long way in just a few years, and its impact on the workplace has been bigger than most workers initially expected. 

But rather than resisting this change, employees are the ones driving AI adoption. They’re using these tools not because they’re forced to, but because AI is making their jobs easier, helping them save time, boost creativity, and streamline daily tasks.

At the same time, concerns about AI haven’t disappeared. While fears of job displacement have eased somewhat since AI first went mainstream, they’re still very real — especially for the one in five respondents who have already seen jobs lost to AI. 

But workers of all ages are adapting in response, whether by learning new AI-related skills or even reconsidering their career paths entirely.

 

Note

This anonymous online survey by Kickresume, conducted in February 2025, gathered insights from 1,483 global participants on their evolving work-relationship with AI tools.

About Kickresume

Kickresume is an AI-based career super-app that helps candidates source jobs and raise salary with powerful resume and cover letter tools, skills analytics, and automated job search assistance. It already helped more than 6 million job seekers worldwide.