Despite employer push, workers aren't sold on AI benefits tools

• Key Insight: Learn how a widening employee-employer trust gap limits AI benefits adoption.
• What's at Stake: Lower employee uptake could undermine benefit engagement and employer ROI.
• Forward Look: Expect policy and training programs to determine AI benefits adoption trajectory.
• Source: Bullets generated by AI with editorial review

Many workers still lack trust in AI tools for benefits support, despite widespread optimism among employers for the technology, according to a new survey. 

The survey from Prudential Financial finds that 83% of employers are interested in using AI to help workers better understand their benefits. However, just 58% of employees say they would use AI for that purpose, and only 24% report using it today. 

"AI can make benefits simpler, more personalized, and easier to use, but employees won't embrace it unless they trust it," said Michael Estep, president of Prudential Group Insurance. "That means helping people understand how these tools work, how their data is protected, and how AI can strengthen the human support they still want and need when making important benefits decisions." 

The study, titled "The Future of Work: Navigating rapid AI adoption while building employee trust," also found a wide gap in how employees and employers view AI. While 78% of employers view it positively, only 51% of employees agree.  

Concerns about trust and privacy are driving a lot of the skepticism, especially with employees. Employees are more likely than employers to cite privacy and security as top concerns (52% versus 49%) and are twice as likely to say they simply don't trust AI in general (25% versus 12%). 

Gen X and baby boomers are more likely than younger generations to be concerned about AI. Among Gen X respondents, 56% cite privacy and security concerns and 57% worry about accuracy and reliability. Among baby boomers, 59% point to privacy and security concerns and 56% question the technology's reliability. And 35% of Gen Xers and 30% of baby boomers say they simply don't trust AI. 

"Building trust takes a long time, so the best way to accelerate building trust and confidence is transparency and traceability," said Scott Roth, vice president and chief technology officer, Prudential Group Insurance. "We need to make sure that we're crystal clear about what we're doing, how we're doing, how we're testing it and — most importantly — training and educating people on how to use it where it's appropriate.

The research was conducted in January with nearly 3,100 full-time U.S. employees and 760 employers via national online surveys.

Earning trust in AI

Buy-in for AI varies by workforce segment. According to the survey, 40% of unionized employees and 27% of both salaried employees and sole decision-makers already use the technology for benefits guidance, compared to lower rates for their peers. 

Despite having privacy and security concerns, employees are open to sharing data for personalization. Sixty-five percent of employees are comfortable with their employer managing their personal data for benefits purposes, rising to 75% among employees in technology-related roles. 

Because benefits decisions are both complex and highly individualized, employee benefits is one of the most natural applications for AI, Roth said. "Many employees still struggle to navigate their benefits options. AI can help simplify that, but they need confidence in the guidance they receive and how their information is handled. When that trust is in place, it can drive stronger engagement and better outcomes."

Read more: Employees are trusting AI with sensitive workplace information

Roth emphasized the importance of getting employees comfortable with AI and to "touch and feel it. The way you're doing it makes all the difference."

Asked whether part of the trust gap stems from fears that AI will replace workers, Roth, whose background is in IT, shared how he uses the technology to help write code. 

"I'm writing more code today than I've written in years because I wanted to see how it works," Roth said. "I was thinking the same thing: 'Does this mean I'm going to be eliminating all these engineers?' And the fact is, no, it's going to make the engineers that we have better for our service people. This is a game changer for service."