Forrester study finds staff too scared of AI job apocalypse to trust tech

New research from Forrester indicates that a lack of employee readiness is the primary obstacle to business success with the rollout of artificial intelligence (AI) programmes. While 68% of organisations report using generative AI in production applications and 81% of decision-makers view AI copilots as essential, meaningful progress in employee adaptation has stalled over the past year across the UK, US, Germany, France, and Australia.

Two central factors are cited as the cause of this stagnation. Firstly, most organisations are failing to provide their employees with effective AI literacy training. Although the proportion of employers offering internal AI training to non-technical staff rose slightly to 51%, only 23% provide training in prompt engineering, a critical skill for using generative AI tools.

Secondly, pervasive employee anxiety regarding job losses is stunting adoption. Despite the absence of widespread redundancies in 2025, 43% of employees remain concerned about AI automation-driven job losses over the next five years. Such fears are only exacerbated by public statements from the 51% of UK business leaders who view AI as a means to reduce staff investment, or the 43% who expect to cut entry-level roles as a result of AI technologies. In this environment, mistrust often leads employees to avoid AI entirely. 

To improve their AI quotient (AIQ), Forrester suggests that businesses must frame AI as an opportunity for workers rather than a threat. As such, investing in comprehensive AI and data-related skills development is recommended to demystify the technology and reduce anxiety. The report argues that demonstrating a commitment to staff development can signal that AI is intended to assist rather than replace the workforce.

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