What happened
An October 2025 survey of 1,003 employed US adults found 63% expect AI to make workplaces less human by 2026. Overreliance on AI reducing human skills was the biggest concern for 57% of respondents, surpassing job displacement (49%). Additionally, 20% worried about declining creativity and critical thinking skills, indicating a shift in worker anxiety.
Why it matters
Worker anxiety has shifted from job displacement to the erosion of human skills, presenting a new challenge for talent and development teams. While efficiency gains are clear, the metric of human intellectual engagement risks decline if employees perceive their judgement and creativity as outsourced to algorithms. This follows recent warnings about AI's potential to harm cognitive ability. Procurement teams must evaluate AI tools not just for productivity, but for their impact on human skill retention.
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