What: Gen Z's scepticism toward AI in the workplace highlights concerns about skill development, leadership transparency, and the risks of over-automation.

Why it is important: Addressing Gen Z's concerns is essential for sustaining talent pipelines, workforce resilience, and long-term organisational trust in an AI-driven environment.

Gen Z's response to AI in the workplace goes beyond job anxiety. The deeper concern is that automation may erode the developmental work that builds expertise: first drafts, low-risk mistakes, iterative feedback, and the gradual accumulation of judgement. Research on AI coding assistance found that junior developers using AI while learning showed weaker understanding of underlying processes afterwards. Speed and learning are not the same thing. If AI absorbs entry-level tasks, organisations risk producing workers who execute faster but understand less, with consequences for leadership pipelines down the line. The authors challenge the standard "just upskill" response, arguing that expertise requires time and the freedom to learn from mistakes. Their proposed frame, "human in the lead," places people in authority over judgement, pace, and work design, and calls for leaders to communicate honestly about the trade-offs of AI adoption.

IADS Notes: Futurism and The Robin Report in April 2026 highlight Gen Z's scepticism toward AI, rooted in concerns about job security, authenticity, and the erosion of human judgement. Harvard Business Review in March 2026 warns that automating entry-level roles threatens talent pipelines and long-term organisational health, while generative AI can undermine skill development if not paired with robust human training. BCG in September 2025 and Harvard Business Review in March 2026 note that only a minority of workers feel prepared for AI-driven change, with cognitive fatigue emerging as a risk when upskilling is not intentional or well-supported. ESG Dive in December 2025 and Harvard Business Review in February 2026 underline the importance of transparency, as employees prefer human oversight in critical decisions and cite organisational barriers as a key reason for stalled AI adoption. Stanford Digital Economy Lab and Inside Retail in September 2025 emphasise that the most resilient organisations use AI to augment rather than replace their workforce, retaining human judgement as the foundation of long-term capability.

Gen Z can hear what leaders won’t say about AI