‘Workers appear to view AI as an additional source of information rather than an authority, preserving responsibility and accountability with themselves’
No, artificial intelligence (AI) will not make the human side of work disposable, according to a recent study.
Nearly all (97%) of employed Americans rely on human judgment before turning to AI when making workplace decisions, reports Resume Now.
Only 3% of workers turn to AI tools as their first step in decision-making, finds the survey of 1,006 employed U.S. adults conducted in June.
Human judgment remains the default
According to the report, 74% of workers say they rely on their own judgment first, while 23% say they turn to coworkers or managers before consulting AI.
The pattern intensifies under pressure. When decisions are high-stakes and time-sensitive, 60% of workers say they rely on their own judgment and 33% on colleagues, leaving just 7% who say they would lean on AI in those moments.
When AI and a coworker's judgment conflict, workers side with people. Resume Now reports that 72% of workers would follow a coworker's judgment over AI output, compared with 28% who would follow the AI. As the report notes, "Workers appear to view AI as an additional source of information rather than an authority, preserving responsibility and accountability with themselves and the people around them."
TELUS previously described public sentiment on AI as “optimism tempered by caution,” with 57% of Canadians believing AI can improve quality of life while also expressing concern about serious risks.
Trust in AI still developing
Confidence in AI is not moving in a single direction, the Resume Now survey found. Among workers who were already using AI a year ago, 37% say their trust has stayed about the same, 27% say it increased, and 8% say it decreased.
Resume Now notes that 28% of respondents were not using AI at work a year ago at all, suggesting a workforce still forming its expectations around the technology's reliability and appropriate use.
Trust between coworkers has held steady despite AI's expansion. The report found 75% of workers said their confidence in colleagues' work has stayed about the same over the past year, with 18% reporting an increase.
How do workers use AI?
Workers report the greatest comfort using AI for lower-stakes tasks. Research or information gathering ranks highest, cited by 24% of respondents, followed by writing tasks at 14% and summarizing information at 13%, reports Resume Now.
Only 3% of workers say they trust AI most for planning or strategy.
Disclosure expectations are widespread but inconsistent. Resume Now found 51% of workers believe AI use should always be disclosed, while 11% say disclosure matters only for high-stakes decisions such as hiring or performance evaluations. Less than 1 in 10 (9%) say disclosure is never necessary.
The report concludes that "building sustainable human-AI trust in the workplace will be the defining characteristic of success."
According to the PwC 2026 Global AI Jobs Barometer, AI is rapidly reshaping the skills employers want most from workers, with growing emphasis on human skills such as judgement, creativity and leadership, as companies most able to use AI expand hiring faster than their peers. The report describes a "two-track" labour market, where "professionalised" roles let AI automate routine tasks so human judgement and expertise get emphasized more, while "democratised" roles are ones AI makes easier for non-experts to do.
Meanwhile, GMAC's 2026 Corporate Recruiters Survey found that while AI, technology, and data-analysis skills saw the largest year-over-year jump in importance, communication skills, problem-solving, and adaptability emerged as the capabilities employers weigh most heavily when hiring business-school graduates.
