International comparison: Germans rarely use AI at work
In a global comparison, Germans rarely use AI tools in their jobs. However, trust in artificial intelligence is decreasing, as a study shows.
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By international comparison, artificial intelligence is rarely used in German workplaces. Around 42 percent of employees in Germany consciously use AI applications for their job. This is the result of a study by the University of Melbourne and the auditing firm KPMG. Worldwide, the proportion of professional AI use is 58 percent. In Austria, around 49 percent of employees use AI applications at work. At just under two thirds, the proportion in Switzerland is significantly higher.
Confidence in AI applications is declining
Although the prevalence of AI applications in the workplace is increasing, the researchers found a decline in trust in AI in everyday working life compared to data from 2022. Employees are now more familiar with the possibilities and limitations of AI tools in relation to their professional tasks and have adjusted their expectations. The authors of the study also point to possible hallucinations of language models. A British insurance company now wants to protect against the resulting damage.
With 43% of German employees currently trusting AI tools in their job, the proportion is at a similar level to the usage rate. Despite a higher usage rate, 43% of Austrian employees also trust the AI applications they use at work. Although trust is higher in Switzerland at 55%, there is also a discrepancy with the usage rate of AI. On a global average, around 53% of respondents trust the AI tools they use in their day-to-day work.
Half of German companies promote AI skills
Around 50 percent of German and Austrian companies have an AI strategy with which they integrate the use of artificial intelligence into their work processes and encourage their employees to use AI applications. A similarly high proportion of companies offer training opportunities for the use of AI tools, such as training courses or peer education. In Switzerland, around two thirds of companies have an AI strategy and training opportunities for employees. Companies in the IT, insurance, and finance sectors are the most supportive of their employees when it comes to using AI.
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Generative AI applications are used most frequently in the workplace. Almost three quarters of employees use chatbots with multiple application options, such as ChatGPT or Copilot. Around 31% use AI-supported media generators, while around a quarter use generative AI applications with specific purposes, such as Grammarly. Around 18% of employees use artificial intelligence for process automation or data analysis. In the field of robotics, the figure is around 12 percent.
Employees rely on shadow AI
Across all applications, around 70 percent of employees use freely accessible AI applications. Around 42% use AI tools for which they have received access from their employer, while just under a fifth pay for an AI program used for work purposes out of their pocket. However, employees do not always take the protection of company data very seriously. Almost half of the employees surveyed stated that they had already transferred internal information to a publicly accessible AI application.
Likewise, 44 percent of employees in the study stated that they had violated their company's guidelines when using AI. Around 56 percent use AI tools without knowing their employer's rules. Around a third of employees report that their company clearly regulates the use of generative AI, while six percent refer to a ban on the use of such tools. In contrast, 41 percent of companies have no corresponding guidelines. Furthermore, around 60 percent state that they conceal the use of AI applications and present their results as their own work.
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Two out of three employees see increased efficiency at work through the use of AI. More than half also state that AI applications provide them with reliable information and improve their own work performance. In addition, more than a third of employees see increased job security as a result of AI, while 17% believe that their job will become increasingly insecure. According to a Microsoft study, one in three German companies is currently planning to cut jobs. Instead, three quarters of companies want to hire AI agents as digital workers.
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