Generative AI: Friend or foe? Study shows AI in the workplace could create a divide between employees

Not only are close to 24% of employees surveyed not using such tools, but this group even thinks their coworkers’ pay should be docked for doing so.

Being a relatively new phenomenon that has taken offices by storm over the past few years, there is a lack of guidance on public AI tools that is creating rifts and increasing risks.

New research released by Veritas Technologies earlier this year shows that confusion over generative AI in the workplace is not only creating a divide between employees, but also increasing the risk of exposing sensitive information.

For a more local perspective, 80% of office workers in Singapore acknowledged using generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Bard at work – including risky behaviour such as inputting customer details, employee information, and company financials into the tools.

Despite this, there are still nearly a quarter (24%) who not only do not use these tools, but even think their coworkers’ pay should be docked for doing so. Interestingly, nearly half (49%) think that those who use these tools should be required to teach the rest of their team on how to use them to create a level playing field.

Regardless of their disposition towards using generative AI, 95% agree that guidelines and policies on its use are important. Despite this rather unanimous sentiment, only 43% of employers currently provide any mandatory usage directions to employees.

Andy Ng, Vice President and Managing Director for Asia South and Pacific region, Veritas, said: “Few can deny the benefits of generative AI but critical questions associated with its use, such as ethical and cybersecurity concerns, remain to be addressed.

“Without guidance on how or if to utilise generative AI, some employees are using it in ways that put their organisations at risk, even as others are reluctant to use it at all. To harness the full potential of generative AI, organisations can put guardrails with effective generative AI guidelines and policies to minimise concerns related to data security and data privacy.”

More than a third (36%) of office workers admitted to inputting potentially sensitive information such as customer details, employee information, and company financials into generative AI tools. This likely stems from more than half (53%) failing to recognise that doing so could leak sensitive information publicly and could cause their organisations to run afoul of data privacy compliance regulations.

Not only is the lack of generative AI guidelines and policies placing organisations at risk, but it is also causing them to miss out. While 58% of office workers in Singapore said they use generative AI tools weekly, 20% said they do not use them at all. A potential reason for such a sizable portion of the workforce not using generative AI may be because of a lack of support — only 62% of the survey respondents have received any guidance from their employers on what’s acceptable and what’s not. Per the survey, this has at least two negative outcomes:

• First, it increases the potential of rifts between employees and negative workplace culture — 56% said that some employees using generative AI have an unfair advantage over those who are not.
• Second, many office workers are reaping the benefits of such tools, i.e., to increase their efficiency with the help of appropriate usage. For example, those who are using it said they benefit from faster access to information (63%), increased productivity (46%), automating mundane tasks (46%), generating new ideas (45%), and gathering advice on workplace challenges (26%).

The survey also unveiled the desire for generative AI guidelines and policies amongst policies. More than 80% of employees in Singapore say they want guidelines, policies, and training from their employers on using generative AI within their organisations. The top reasons cited were:

• employees need to know how to use the tools in an appropriate way (70%),
• to mitigate risks (51%), and
• to create a level playing field in the workplace (30%).

Thus, as concluded in the survey, to enjoy the benefits without increasing risk, it is important that organisations develop, implement, and clearly communicate guidelines and policies on the appropriate use of generative AI, while also providing the right data compliance and governance tools for ongoing enforcement.

Lead image / 123rf.com