AI in the workplace is creating ‘friction or mistrust’: MetLife survey
AI is praised for its ability to automate routine, high-volume tasks at record speed. But a new report reveals the technology is also creating tensions between employers and employees over its implementation.
80% of human resources decision makers Survey conducted by MetLife AI tools are part of daily tasks, with 83% saying AI helps employees work faster and 67% saying AI “creates new points of friction and mistrust,” according to a new report from the financial services firm.
“We’ve heard concerns about layoffs,” said Todd Katz, head of U.S. group benefits for MetLife. “We have heard concerns about the need for accommodation, which creates friction between employer and employee.”
More than half of employees surveyed, 61 percent, said they were concerned about the ethical and security risks of using AI, including bias, misinformation and lack of accountability. Nearly 59% of respondents worry it will make their jobs obsolete, and 24% think they need to compete with AI in the workplace, MetLife found.
The MetLife study compiled data from three surveys: two conducted in October 2025 and January 2026, each involving approximately 2,500 employees, and the other in October 2025, benefiting approximately 2,500 decision makers from large, medium and small companies.
How can employers ease employees’ concerns?
Boonchai Wedmakawand | An | Getty Images
As AI reshapes careers by automating routine tasks, experts say it’s more important for workers to develop “human” skills like strategic thinking.
Chief economist Nela Richardson said easing workers’ concerns has a lot to do not just with the technology itself, but also with how companies promote it and prepare their workforces for it. HR and payroll services company ADP.
“This requires business processes. It requires change management. It requires upskilling your workforce, upskilling your talent, so they need to be ready with those tools,” he said.
Some employees may not be ready for duty yet. another one A recent survey by BetterUp Labs and the Stanford Social Media Lab found that 53% of U.S. workers say they are returning to the “shop floor.” definitions It is defined as “AI-generated content that looks good but lacks substance.”
“This lower effort, lower quality on the part of the person creating the AI-generated work, and it shifts the burden from the sender to the receiver,” said Kate Niederhoffer, a social psychologist and chief scientist at BetterUp Labs., The research arm of the digital coaching platform.
According to the survey conducted in September, nearly 40% of workers said they received a “workshop” in the last month.
“That means extra burden, extra time, extra pay, extra judgment, and less possibility of working with the people who created it. That’s the real problem here,” Niederhoffer said. This makes it difficult for colleagues to collaborate, he said, and can also contribute to distrust.
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