Autonomous AI use on the rise and less human control
According to a new Salesforce study, almost half of employees in Switzerland already rely on AI or are at least experimenting with it (46% of respondents). They feel most comfortable when AI and humans work together. However, time-consuming tasks, such as writing code, uncovering data insights and composing written messages, are among the tasks that AI could progressively perform autonomously.
At the same time, employees are not yet ready to entrust everything to AI. The study shows that they prefer humans to carry out tasks such as familiarization, training and data security. However, this could change quickly - the data suggests that targeted investment in knowledge and education will boost confidence in an autonomous AI future.
Switzerland is more open to AI compared to other countries
In Germany, 28% of respondents stated that they use AI without hesitation. The study describes this result as significantly different to its northern neighbor Germany (20%). However, the UK (17%) and Ireland (15%) also see more hurdles in the use of AI. Respondents in India have the greatest confidence in AI, with a value of 40%. Surprisingly, almost the same number (24%) in Switzerland are not at all inclined to use AI in the workplace, while 25% are not willing to use Generative AI.
Major differences between the sectors
A deeper look into the industries also shows differences: people in the communications industry are most inclined to use Chat GPT, Gemini and co. Here it is 69% who already use or would use these tools without hesitation. One explanation for this is the nature of the industry-specific tasks that can be handed over to AI. In general, 19% of employees in Switzerland would completely hand over texts for internal communication to AI.
On the other hand, there is the research sector (life sciences and biotechnology), around three quarters of respondents (72%) from this sector are not prepared to use these tools at all.
In the public sector, there is again a fundamental willingness, although 56% of respondents have reservations. The main reasons for this are the lack of expertise and the absence of guidelines on how employers should handle generative artificial intelligence. 39% of respondents in this sector are completely averse to the use of AI tools and do not intend to use them for their personal tasks in the future (78%).
Millennials and Gen X leading the way in understanding AI
Across all generations, millennials and Gen X are those with the greatest expertise in the technical implementation and use of AI in everyday working life. Gen Z is not among the generations that know the most about artificial intelligence and use it the most. Gen Z appears to be particularly critical of AI assistants, as 82% of respondents from this generation do not use assistants such as IBM Watson or Microsoft Copilot. Millennials take a very different view, with 39% experimenting with or having already fully integrated such AI assistants into their everyday working lives.
"The results of the study reflect our customer experience: Artificial intelligence is already being used in Swiss companies for many tasks, but in most cases this is not (yet) happening without human intervention," says Gregory Leproux, Senior Director, Solution Engineering at Salesforce Switzerland. "To realize the full potential of trustworthy AI, there is a need for more powerful control mechanisms and policies for responsible generative AI that enable employees to review the output of AI applications at the system level rather than prompt by prompt. When AI systems are thoughtfully designed, we can combine the best of human and machine intelligence for this incredible new era."
Salesforce, in partnership with YouGov, conducted a double-anonymous survey from March 20 to April 3, 2024. Almost 6,000 full-time employees participated in the survey, representing companies of various sizes and industries in nine countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, France, Germany, India, Singapore and Switzerland (265 people). The survey was conducted online.
Source: www.salesforce.com
