81% of employees believe AI improves their job performance

81% of employees believe AI improves their overall performance at work and as a result, more than two-thirds (68%) are calling on their employers to deploy more AI-based technology to help them execute their daily work better and faster. This is according to research published by SnapLogic, provider of an Intelligent Integration Platform, who surveyed 400 office workers across the US and UK about their opinions on AI in the workplace.

Currently, more than half (56%) of office workers say they are using AI as a part of their daily job responsibilities. The research indicates that the potential for AI’s impact is much broader, as 89% believe AI could support them in up to half of their everyday work activities.

The top three tasks identified by employees, where they believe AI can assist them the most were: 

1. Understanding data and how trends and patterns can aid decision making
2. Moving data from one place to another
3. Accessing data residing in different places across the business

Can AI help improve employee’s efficiency?

When asked about the benefits of AI in the workplace, 61% said it helped them have a more efficient and productive workday. Additionally, almost half (49%) felt that it improved their decision-making and accelerated time-to-insights. What’s more, just over half (51%) believe that AI in the workplace helps them achieve a better work/life balance due to the aforementioned productivity boost.

“In recent years, there was concern among office workers that AI would drive job losses, but employee opinions seem to have changed. The more they’ve been exposed to AI and see it in action, the more they’ve realised how much it can assist them with their daily work,” said Craig Stewart, CTO at SnapLogic. “As AI is increasingly used to make better decisions and rack up productivity gains, they’ve gone from tentatively accepting to fully embracing AI. The fact that they are now calling on their leaders to accelerate AI technology adoption in the enterprise is a real sea-change.”

The research also looked at the growing market for personal AI applications versus those used at work. The workplace appears to be the proving ground for the use of AI, with 45% downloading AI-driven apps for their use at work, compared with just 26% who had downloaded AI-driven apps for personal use. As employees get comfortable with AI at work, perhaps they will more fully embrace it at home as well.