Office Workers Turn Against AI While Executives Embrace It

A striking divide has emerged in how different workplace roles perceive artificial intelligence, according to new analysis from Glassdoor. While executives and directors overwhelmingly praise AI tools, frontline workers are expressing mounting frustration—with some professions showing near-universal negativity.

Chris Martin, Glassdoor's economist, analyzed employee reviews to track how workers across industries discuss AI and whether their commentary trends positive or negative. The findings reveal a clear pattern: the higher up the corporate ladder, the more enthusiasm for AI.

Leadership embraces AI, frontline workers resist

Director-level positions and above showed the strongest positive sentiment toward AI in their workplace reviews. Sales managers also favored AI by roughly a two-to-one margin. Product managers, recruiters, and software engineers rounded out the positive camp before sentiment levels approached neutral territory.

The negative side tells a different story. Insurance claims adjusters led the resistance with a staggering 98% negative sentiment—what Martin described in unusually direct language as "shockingly negative about AI." Teachers and writers also registered strong disapproval, though neither approached the claims adjusters' near-unanimous rejection.

The 98% negativity figure rivals only one comparable statistic: a separate survey finding that 99% of artists dislike AI. However, artists likely appear underrepresented in Glassdoor's data since many work as freelancers or contractors rather than traditional employees who typically leave workplace reviews.

Why it matters

This sentiment gap suggests AI deployment is creating a two-tier workplace experience. Executives see productivity gains and strategic advantages, while workers on the ground face job displacement fears, increased monitoring, or tools that complicate rather than simplify their work. For insurance claims adjusters specifically, AI likely threatens core job functions while potentially overriding professional judgment in sensitive claim decisions. Companies rolling out AI tools without addressing these frontline concerns risk employee disengagement and retention problems that executive enthusiasm alone cannot solve.

Growing negativity in employee reviews

Beyond the role-specific findings, Glassdoor's data indicates that AI mentions in employee reviews are both increasing and turning more negative overall. This trend suggests that initial workplace AI implementations may be falling short of promises or creating unforeseen problems for workers expected to use them daily.

The analysis underscores how AI adoption creates winners and losers within the same organization. Those in strategic or managerial positions appear positioned to benefit, while workers whose tasks AI might automate or monitor view the technology as a threat rather than a tool.

These findings were first reported by Glassdoor in their workplace sentiment analysis.