Gen Z leads AI sabotage at work, 44 per cent admit disrupting company AI plans due to job loss fear

A new report reveals employees are sabotaging AI adoption amid rising fears of job loss and workplace automation.

In Short

• Employees admit sabotaging AI tools due to job loss fears
• Report highlights widespread resistance to enterprise AI adoption strategies
• Rising layoffs intensify anxiety around AI replacing human roles

AI tools are improving with each passing day, and businesses are applying new AI solutions to automate workflows. Over the past two years, reports of layoffs linked to AI have also increased. The expansion of AI in business, combined with job losses, has created an environment of fear and anxiety among working individuals. Many are questioning whether their skill sets will remain relevant in the future or if they will be replaced by AI. In such a scenario, a new report suggests that employees themselves are sabotaging AI adoption within companies.

A recent report, AI Adoption in the Enterprise, based on the 2026 AI adoption survey by Writer, found that 29 percent of employees—including 44 percent of Gen Z—admitted to sabotaging their company’s AI strategy. The study surveyed 2,400 workers across the US, UK, Ireland, Benelux, France, and Germany. It also found that 77 percent of C-suite executives believe employee sabotage poses a serious threat to their company’s future.

Forms of AI sabotage

According to the report, sabotage attempts by employees include entering proprietary company information into public AI tools, using unapproved AI tools, refusing to use AI tools altogether, tampering with performance reviews and intentionally generating low-output work to make AI appear less effective. The report states that some employees admitted to pushing back against AI due to fears of job loss.

However, the employees that participated in the survey are not alone and even OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has acknowledged the growing fear and anxiety around AI in a recent blog post after the attack on this home. He said such concerns are justified, as society is witnessing one of the largest transformations in a long time, possibly ever. He suggested that society must be strengthened and prepared through new policies to manage emerging risks.

Layoffs add to the anxiety

In just the first four months of 2026, the global tech industry saw nearly 80,000 job cuts in the first quarter, with AI emerging as one of the key drivers behind these layoffs, according to a report by Nikkei Asia. Based on analysis from RationalFX, the report shows that 78,557 tech layoffs were recorded between January 1 and April 1, with the United States accounting for 76.7 percent of these job reductions.

While speaking to Axios recenlty, Altman said that AI will not simply replace humans but will reshape the balance between labour and technology. He noted that there will be new jobs, but also suggested society may need to rethink how economic value is distributed if AI shifts too much power toward capital over labour.

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