What happens when employees are asked to embrace a technology that may also threaten their jobs? In this talk, Christos Makridis examines how workers interpret AI at work using the Gallup Workplace Panel, a probability-based longitudinal survey that follows U.S. adults over time and repeatedly measures their use of AI, workplace experiences, and expectations about job loss. Drawing on more than 100,000 worker-wave observations from 2023 through mid-2026, he finds that employees who use AI daily or several times a week are more likely to believe their current job could be eliminated within five years because of new technology. Occasional users, by contrast, do not differ systematically from workers who never use AI. The organizational context also matters: among employees who feel strongly respected and supported at work, the relationship between frequent AI use and displacement concern is substantially weaker. These concerns also coincide with lower engagement and job satisfaction, greater burnout, and more active job search. The findings suggest that AI adoption is not only a question of what the technology can do. It also depends on what workers believe their organizations will do with it, and whether they expect technological change to include them.

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