According to the compliance platform GCheck, 63% of employees are lying about their ability to use AI tools in the workplace. Also, 69% of workers believe it’s likely that “parts of their current job responsibilities will be automated by AI within the next 24 months, including 79% of Gen Z workers.”
The level of panic over AI is partly fed by companies themselves. “A recent report from Challenger, Gray and Christmas found that more than a quarter of layoffs in April were attributable to AI, with more than 21,000 cuts announced,” according to The Deep View (DV). That makes AI the leading rationale for job cuts for the second month in a row, according to the report.
However, it appears that companies are using AI as an excuse to downsize. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNBC that there is “no sign in the data” that AI has cost anyone their job as of yet. Hassett said that companies that adopt AI tend to see “rapid revenue growth” and a surge in employment.
“We are studying the future of AI and what it means for the workforce, so we’ve got a big task force on that,” Hassett said.
“An MIT study suggests that more than 11% of work hours in the US can already be automated,” reports DV. On the other hand, a Harvard study found that AI actually increases the hours and scope of work, rather than reducing them.
The uncertainty bordering on panic by Gen Z is real, while companies that are cutting staff and blaming AI are probably exaggerating, if not lying. The bottom line is that predictions about AI’s impact on jobs, the economy, and workers are pure guesswork. There are no reliable signposts that point to a specific direction that AI will take us in the near future. That’s because the incredibly rapid development of new AI models and the exponential increase in AI’s capabilities have left many companies and employees helpless and gasping for air.
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DV reports, “Forty percent of workers say they have personally observed AI tools performing parts of their work, while 29% say AI has already taken over responsibilities in their workplace.” Only 38% say they feel “very or extremely prepared” to use AI tools effectively. Another “40% say they would need training to keep up, and 22% say they would struggle or could not use AI tools effectively at all.”
“Workers are facing a new kind of career pressure where appearing AI-capable increasingly feels tied to employability and job security,” said Houman Akhavan, Founder and CEO of GCheck. “The problem is not just that workers are exaggerating AI skills. It’s that employers often lack reliable ways to verify those capabilities, creating a growing gap between perceived and actual expertise. That disconnect creates risk for organizations and uncertainty for employees trying to keep pace with rapid change.”
Despite widespread exaggeration, workers recognize the risks. Seventy-six percent agree that misrepresenting AI-related skills puts businesses at risk. Yet GCheck’s report identifies a Verification Vacuum: AI skill claims are being made at scale while employer-side verification has failed to keep pace. Sixty-four percent of workers say their employer has never attempted to verify their AI skills, and only 39% believe employers can effectively do so.
Workers are actively asking for stronger verification. Nearly half want testing of AI competencies (48%) and transparent explanations of how AI is used in hiring (47%). Others want clear communication about what will be verified (46%) and consistent standards across candidates (42%). Notably, 29% say they would be more honest about their qualifications if employers clearly communicated what would be independently verified, signaling that stronger and more transparent processes could directly reduce misrepresentation.
DV offers food for thought: “Despite how enticing the promise of AI may seem, the tech remains incredibly nascent. With issues such as accuracy, hallucination, and data security, it’s unclear whether this tech is actually capable of taking over jobs entirely — or if it just looks like it can.”
Yes, AI has been oversold, or rather, its capabilities haven’t caught up with the hype. But faster than most of us can possibly imagine, that hype will become reality, and the crisis in the workplace will be upon us.
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