Workforce sentiment regarding artificial intelligence in the workplace is increasingly turning critical, according to an analysis of Glassdoor employer reviews. While executives and software architects report overwhelmingly positive views on AI, hands-on workers—such as software engineers, insurance claims processors, and customer support representatives—express widespread dissatisfaction, with 57 percent of software engineers’ comments leaning negative.
Overall workplace mentions of AI rose 240 percent between May 2025 and May 2026. While positive reviews stem mainly from employees at high-performing AI companies or those receiving adequate training, negative sentiment is driven by fears of job loss, mandatory adoption of buggy software, alienating automated management messages, and unrealistic productivity expectations from leadership.
The data highlights significant demographic and organizational splits. Negative AI comments reach 67 percent at enterprises with over 10,000 employees compared to 51 percent at small firms. Additionally, Gen Z women expressed the lowest approval, with only 21 percent holding positive views of workplace AI tools compared to 42 percent of Gen Z men.
Why it matters
Forced rollout of unproven AI tools without training creates significant employee burnout and negative workplace sentiment.
Software engineers view code-generation tools with higher skepticism than executives, signaling a gap between leadership expectations and actual tool utility.
Enterprise deployments face steeper adoption resistance than smaller firms, requiring better change management strategies.
Source: the-decoder.com
