An independent study by Censuswide, sponsored by Jitterbit, a global leader in empowering transformation through automation, reveals the promise artificial intelligence (AI) is creating for office workers. Many see AI as offering new skills and personal growth opportunities. The study surveyed 1,022 full-time office workers in the U.S. and U.K., unearthing how workers feel about AI. The findings uncovered positivity about working with AI technology in professional settings.
Many (85%) office workers expect AI to improve their roles, dispelling many fears of job displacement and embracing the potential for job augmentation and optimization. Further, 88% of workers see AI as a valuable educational resource, jumping to 98% among those ages 18 to 25. The top three skills office workers want to learn through AI are analytical and statistical skills (36%); financial management skills (35%); and coding and development (32%).
The study also reveals that AI is seen as a helpful tool rather than a hinderance, with 96% of office workers saying AI can enhance their professional skills, reflecting broad acceptance and excitement about the technology. Automating mundane tasks has been the promise of AI for the last decade, but this issue is finally resolved with generative AI (GenAI) that creates new content by learning patterns from existing data and generating similar outputs. The top anticipated benefits of AI include reducing time spent gathering information (46%); increasing time for thoughtful work (33%); and providing more time for larger projects (33%).
More than half (61%) of office workers are not concerned about AI replacing human jobs, indicating a growing belief that AI is a tool that complements human efforts. Respondents offered strong opinions on AI’s current capabilities and limitations, and where human expertise remains invaluable.
Office roles perceived to be most suitable for AI replacement are customer support (24%); coding (19%); reception work (17%); social influencers (17%); and parking wardens (15%). Those believed to be least likely replaced by AI include teachers (11%); journalists (11%), lawyers (10%); and CEOs (10%).
“Rather than being distracted by negative headlines, office workers see beyond the AI hype,” says Bill Conner, president and CEO of Jitterbit. “This is an evolution, not a revolution. U.S. and U.K. employees are identifying what AI should be used for; learning skills, automating processes, and outsourcing routine tasks to focus on more strategic efforts. AI is changing the world, and our research shows office workers are open to the true potential this incredible technology offers on a practical level.”
