The generation that has been born and raised with internet in your pocket is showing signs of being up to the top of the AI. The initial enthusiasm sparked by the massive arrival of AI tools among young people of Generation Z has given way to something much less glamorous: distrust, anger and, in the work environment, an active resistance to using AI that is catching many companies off guard.
A survey of 1,572 young people of that generation carried out by Gallup, the Walton Family Foundation and GSV Ventures records a change in attitude among members of Generation Z that contradicts the image of a technology-enthusiast digital native generation.
The great disappointment in numbers. According to the study According to Gallup, the share of Gen Zers who say they are excited about AI plummeted from 36% in 2025 to 22% in 2026, a decline of 14 percentage points. Those who describe themselves as optimistic increased from 27% to 18%, while those who express anger or rage towards AI grew from 22% to 31%. Anxiety, which already had high percentages in the 2025 data, has remained stable, going from 41% to 42%.
The unrest of young people has a very specific trigger: the fear of the lack of employment opportunities. According to the data published by The New York Times48% of young people from Generation Z consider that the risks of AI in the labor market outweigh its benefits. Only 15% perceive this technology as a benefit. Additionally, 80% of young people surveyed believe that relying on AI to complete tasks faster is an obstacle to long-term learning, revealing a distrust that goes beyond employment and affects how young people perceive their own development.
They use AI, but reluctantly. Despite the great disappointment expressed by the genzers51% continue to use AI weekly, although that percentage has only grown four points compared to 2025, being an obvious symptom of a slowdown in the adoption of AI. Zach Hrynowski, a senior education researcher at Gallup, attributes this continuity not to enthusiasm but to pragmatic acceptance: Young people use AI because they understand they can’t ignore it, not because they like it.
The researcher also points out that the oldest members of that generation are the ones who express the most anger, precisely because they are the ones who are entering a labor market in which AI threatens the jobs they have. they must occupy.
Silent office sabotage. Generation Z’s discomfort with AI is not limited to statistics. a report Prepared by the business AI company Writer and the consulting firm Workplace Intelligence, based on interviews with 2,400 workers in the US, the United Kingdom and Europe, it revealed that 29% of employees admit to having actively sabotaged their company’s AI implementation strategy. Among Generation Z workers, that percentage rises to 44%.
Forms of sabotage range from introducing sensitive information into public AI tools, using unauthorized applicationsrefusing to use imposed AI tools, or manipulating performance evaluations to make AI appear less effective. 30% of those who admit these behaviors say they act this way because fear of losing your job.
Adapt or fall behind. The research in Harvard Business Review also point to why resistance to succumbing to AI has increased among this generation: when AI frustrates basic psychological needs such as the feeling of being competent, autonomous or having meaningful connections at work, employees not only reject it, but perceive it as an existential threat.
Companies, for their part, do not seem willing to wait: 60% of managers surveyed by Writer acknowledge that they are considering letting go of employees who refuse to adopt AI, and 69% have plans to make layoffs related to this technology in the coming months.
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