Staffers aren't necessarily opposed to AI, new surveys show

As workplaces show increased enthusiasm for AI, staffers expect that the technology will have a major impact on their work lives.

Two recent surveys — one from Pew and the other from AI startup Scale AI — sought to gauge companies’ interest in AI as well as employees’ reactions to those plans and ambitions. The Pew report looked at responses from over 11,000 U.S. adults at a range of companies, while the Scale AI poll recruited 3,000 machine learning practitioners (e.g., people who work with AI tools but don’t necessarily build them) and executives.

The Scale AI survey results suggest spending on AI remains robust, with 72% of companies planning to “significantly” increase their AI investments every year over the next three years. Fifty-nine percent of those companies view AI as critical to their business in the next year, while 69% believe it’ll become critical in the next three years.

But what do workers think? It’s a bit of a mixed bag.