New Factsheet: Why Workers Use AI Less Often at Work

A new factsheet from the Meinungsmonitor Künstliche Intelligenz (MeMo:KI) project, “Why Workers Use AI Less Often: Reasons for Declining Workplace AI Use in Germany,” examines a counterintuitive aspect of AI adoption in the German working population: while use has generally increased, a portion of the workforce reports using AI less often at work than before.

The report is based on a quota-based online survey of 2,585 workers, conducted between 29 April and 11 May 2026. It looks at how professional AI use has changed over the preceding three months, the reasons given for reduced use, and how increases and decreases relate to individual and organizational characteristics. Most respondents report unchanged use, and increases predominate overall; a decline affects only a small share. Where use has declined, it is associated with a more critical attitude toward AI, lower perceived competence and organizational support, and a perceived lack of added value, unreliable results, and data privacy concerns. Notably, the pattern differs by skill level: higher-skilled workers are more likely to increase their use, while lower-skilled workers are comparatively more likely to reduce it—raising the question of whether AI mitigates or deepens existing workplace inequalities.

The factsheet (No. 18) is available in English and German via SocArXiv. For further results and the project dashboard, see the MeMo:KI project page.