A new workplace study suggests many organizations may be overestimating how deeply artificial intelligence has been adopted across their workforce.

According to Slingshot’s latest Digital Work Trends Report, 86% of executives say using AI is now effectively required at their companies. Yet fewer than half of middle managers — 49% — say the same expectation is communicated to employees.

That gap suggests that even 39 months after AI large language models arrived in earnest with the November 2022 launch of ChatGPT 3, leadership expectations around AI adoption may not be fully translating through management layers and into day-to-day workflows.

The survey also found differences in how leaders and employees conceptualize AI’s role at work:

• While 41% of employers say they view AI as “another member of the team,” most employees still see the technology primarily as a tool
• More than half of employees — 52% — describe AI as simply a helpful productivity tool, while only 20% say they view it as a workplace teammate

That difference in framing reflects a broader disconnect between executive enthusiasm and employee adoption patterns.

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Many workers appear to be incorporating AI more cautiously. The report found that 54% of employees say AI is helpful but not essential to their jobs, suggesting the technology has not yet become a foundational part of daily workflows for much of the workforce.

Generational attitudes also show variation, though even younger employees remain measured in their views. Among Gen Z workers, 28% say they view AI as a teammate, compared with 24% of Millennials.

At the same time, concerns about job displacement remain present. The study found that 19% of Gen Z employees and 17% of Millennials worry they could eventually be replaced by AI.

The report also identified a perception gap around data-driven decision making. While 70% of employers believe employees regularly rely on data in their work, only 31% of employees say they consistently use data to guide decisions.

Taken together, the findings suggest organizations pushing deeper AI adoption may need to focus more heavily on internal communication, training and practical use cases to close the gap between leadership expectations and workforce implementation.

The report is based on a survey of 500 U.S. adults conducted by market research firm Dynata.