Gen Z uses AI the most, but trusts it the least: Glassdoor
AI may be Gen Z’s favourite workplace shortcut, but a Glassdoor report finds young workers worry it could shrink entry-level jobs.
Gen Z is using AI at work. It is also side-eyeing it. A new Glassdoor study suggests younger workers are more sceptical about AI than older employees, even though they are among the most active users of AI tools on the job.
In other words, Gen Z may be happy to let AI help with the work, but not quite ready to trust it with their future. The difference appears to come down to where they sit on the career ladder.
For someone just starting out, AI can look less like a productivity boost and more like a threat to the job they were hoping to grow into.
AI mentions are rising, but the mood is changing
Glassdoor analysed employee reviews mentioning AI and found that those mentions jumped 240% between May 2025 and May 2026. But the conversation has become much less cheerful.
In 2019, 81% of reviews mentioning AI were positive. By 2026, that figure had fallen to 43%, while 53% mentioned AI as a drawback. The generational gap is interesting too.
Gen X workers were the most positive, with 47% of AI-related comments framed favourably. Millennials came in at 40%, while Gen Z was at 33%.
There is even a noticeable split within Gen Z. Around 42% of comments from Gen Z men were positive, compared with just 21% from Gen Z women.
Why Gen Z has more to worry about
The issue is not simply that younger workers dislike AI. They may actually have more reason to worry about it. Companies are increasingly using AI for tasks such as basic research, customer support, content creation and routine analysis.
These are also the kinds of tasks that often give early-career employees their first experience. That creates an uncomfortable question: if AI handles the beginner work, how do beginners get the experience needed to become senior professionals?
The Glassdoor findings and other research also pointed to pressure on entry-level jobs. Stanford-linked research has found that employment among 22- to 25-year-olds in highly AI-exposed occupations was 19% lower than in comparable less-exposed roles.
For senior workers, AI can look pretty different
Someone with 10 years of experience may see AI as a helpful shortcut. A junior employee might see the same tool doing half the tasks they were supposed to learn from. Experienced workers can often use their judgement to check whether an AI-generated answer makes sense.
They know the industry, the client and the context. Someone new to the job may not yet have that safety net. Glassdoor also found that negative AI comments were not limited to job fears.
Employees mentioned forced AI adoption, workplace surveillance, unrealistic productivity expectations and concerns that AI was distracting companies from their actual work.
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The real problem may be trust
None of this means Gen Z is turning its back on AI. Younger workers are still among its biggest users. The bigger issue is whether they believe AI is helping them build a career or slowly removing the steps needed to build one.
For employers, that distinction matters. Giving people an AI tool is easy. Explaining how it will change their jobs, training them to use it and making sure it does not simply turn into a productivity whip is much harder.
If companies get that part right, Gen Z could be one of AI’s biggest supporters. If they get it wrong, the people using AI the most could also become the people who trust it the least.