Nearly Half of Workers Worry About Decisions Based On AI

Nearly half of knowledge workers (47%) worry about their organisations making decisions on the basis of unreliable information gleaned from artificial intelligence. 

That’s according to the new State of Work Innovation report from business communication platform Asana, which offers a snapshot of workplace productivity. 

And just over a quarter of workers(26%)  say their company doesn’t provide enough AI training.

Nearly one third admit to using unauthorised “shadow AI” tools, putting their companies at risk from security threats.

Dr Rebecca Hinds, Head of Asana’s Work Innovation Lab, said: “AI has the capability to help, but too many organisations are only using AI to boost individual productivity.

“By applying AI across the organisation, it gains critical context of the work that is happening — giving organisations the clarity of who is doing what and by when. Only then will businesses create connections, move faster, build resilience, and balance workloads.”

One easy win for CEOs who want to embrace AI for faster business decisions is to have an AI policy in place, suggests Asana. This gives teams clear guidance on how to use AI responsibly, helping them make the most of the technology without uncertainty. 

Overwhelmed by workload

Employees are leaning on AI - and its potentially wonky information – partly because they are so overwhelmed by everything else going on in their working day. 

Nearly 70% of workers say their managers don’t understand their workloads. 

The curse of meetings

Time spent in unproductive meetings has doubled since 2019, with workers wasting five hours per week. 

Nearly half (48%) of workers say their last meeting was unnecessary, while 61% say little is accomplished in meetings.

Employees also suffer from “meeting recovery syndrome” after 28% of their meetings, with employees venting to colleagues to recover from bad meetings.

Everything all at once

Four out of ten workers struggle with too many organisational changes happening at once, and only 27% believe their business is resilient to future challenges.

Workers are also exhausted by too many disconnected tools, 75% of workers feel digitally exhausted, up from 64% last year. As well, 63% say their work is disrupted by too many tools. 

Fewer than half (47%) of workers say they understand how their work contributes to company goals, and nearly two in five (38%) say they don’t feel responsible for delivering high-quality work.

Adding to the stress, workers spend nine hours per week searching for information, and 64% say their organisation’s tools make their jobs harder.

All of this contributes to burnout: over eight in ten (81%) workers have experienced burnout in the last six months. 

Dr Hinds added: “This report is a wake-up call for leaders. The last five years have completely reshaped how we work, but too many teams are still stuck in outdated practices that drain productivity. Holding onto these old habits has come at a high cost—leaving teams disconnected and overwhelmed.  

With asynchronous work now central to modern workplaces, businesses need to move beyond outdated methods like relying on meetings to solve every problem, face-to-face conversations for critical information, and letting teams adopt technology in silos.”

Asana surveyed over 13,000 knowledge workers across six countries for this year’s report, split evenly across the US, UK, Germany, France, Japan and Australia.

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