Half of young workers feel guilty when they use AI to do their jobs. Yet the same skills are fast becoming something their employers demand. That is the bind facing Gen Z at work, according to a new global survey from the employment platform Employment Hero.
The company calls it “the AI paradox.” In the UK, 41% of workers say using AI to produce work makes them feel guilty, a figure that climbs to 51% among Gen Z. Across the four markets it polled, more than four in ten AI users say using the tools feels like cheating.
The data comes from a vendor with its own interest in the story, so treat it as a signal rather than gospel. Employment Hero surveyed 8,744 leaders and employees across the UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.
A dirty little secret
The guilt has a cost, because people tend to hide what makes them uneasy. Ria Kaur, a university student moving through internships, put the feeling plainly. “AI can feel like my dirty little secret,” she said. She blames a stigma that paints young people as lazy. Use AI at work, she said, and people assume you are cutting corners, even when you are using it to understand a task or prepare for a meeting.
