Salesforce research reveals 74% of Irish Workers Trust an Autonomous AI Future, and Humans Critical to Getting There

Today’s Irish workers already trust AI to do almost half of their work tasks, according to new Salesforce research. While workers feel most comfortable when AI and humans work together, they are also beginning to trust AI to complete time-saving tasks autonomously, like writing code, uncovering data insights, and drafting written communications.

Workers aren’t ready to trust everything to AI just yet. The research shows that workers prefer tasks like onboarding, training, and keeping data safe to be overseen by humans. But this may not be for long. The data also suggests that investing in knowledge and education builds trust in an autonomous AI future.

Why it matters: As technology advances, people are getting a glimpse into a future in which AI can operate entirely on its own. The Salesforce research, which surveyed 253 people across Ireland, revealed that workers are excited about an AI-powered future. They also stressed the importance of a human touch as they build trust, knowledge, and experience with AI tools. Responses formed part of a survey of nearly 6,000 respondents around the world.

The research found:

Irish workers are offloading tasks to AI and beginning to trust an autonomous future

• Workers today trust AI to do roughly 40% of their work tasks, indicating a shift among workers to offloading tasks to AI.
• 74% of Irish workers will eventually trust AI to operate autonomously. This number includes:
  • 7% of workers who trust AI to operate autonomously today
  • 20% of workers who will trust AI to operate autonomously in less than three years
  • 47% of  workers who will trust AI to operate autonomously in three or more years

While Irish workers prefer AI-human collaboration, they’re starting to trust AI for certain tasks

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• Today, Irish workers trust humans and AI to do most tasks together:
  • 61% trust humans and AI to uncover data insights together
  • 59% trust humans and AI to write code together
  • 55% trust them to develop internal and external communications together

• When asked if these workers trusted AI to do any of these same tasks autonomously, the answer, for a small group, was some. Tasks they felt comfortable with offloading to autonomous AI included:
  • 15% trust AI to write code autonomously
  • 13% trust AI to uncover data insights on its own
  • 11% trust AI to develop internal and external communications without a human
  • 14% trust autonomous AI to act as their personal assistant

• Other tasks, according to respondents, require having a human involved right now. Irish workers are most likely to trust humans alone to do the following:
  • 47X% trust humans alone to be inclusive
  • 47% trust humans alone to onboard and train employees
  • 43% trust humans alone to keep data safe

Autonomous AI is on the horizon, but human enablement and involvement are needed to get there

• Human involvement is needed to build trust in AI:
  • 66% of Irish workers say more human involvement would build their trust in AI
• Concerns about AI may come from a lack of understanding:
  • 46% of Irish workers say they do not know how AI is implemented or governed in their workplace

According to the global data, workers who are knowledgeable about how AI is implemented and governed in their workplace are 5x more likely to say they will trust AI to operate autonomously within the next two years than those who are not knowledgeable.

• Training may be another key to trusted autonomy:
  • 58% of Irish workers say more skill-building and training opportunities would build their trust in AI

 “Workers are excited about an AI-powered future and the research shows us that human engagement can help us get there. By empowering humans at the helm of today’s AI systems, we can build trust and drive adoption – enabling workers to unlock all that AI has to offer.” said Paula Goldman, Chief Ethical and Humane Use Officer Salesforce.

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