Gen AI tools helping employees save time at work: Study

Generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) tools are helping employees save time, revealed recent survey by enterprise automation and AI software company UiPath, adding that the combination of GenAI and business automation tools offers significantly greater benefits. The findings come from UiPath's annual Global Knowledge Worker Survey, conducted in partnership with Researchscape in March and April 2024, involving 9,047 respondents across nine countries, including the US, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Korea, Hong Kong, France, Germany, and the UK.
 
The survey highlights a lack of direction and training from enterprises regarding the use of GenAI, leading to widespread mistrust among global workforces. Only 45% of workers have received training or guidelines on how to use GenAI. Moreover, just 44% of employees believe GenAI has the necessary context from their business’s data to support processes and drive value. However, this perception rises to 85% when GenAI is used in conjunction with business automation.
 
Key findings from the report show that GenAI significantly benefits workers, with 42% of respondents saving 10 or more hours each week. This saved time has allowed nearly half (48%) of the workers to focus on more creative tasks. Regionally, employees in Singapore and Hong Kong have experienced the most significant time-saving benefits from GenAI tools.
 
When combining GenAI and business automation software, respondents reported greater productivity (43%), more accurate work (39%), and improved work/life balance (38%). Workers using both technologies together saved more than 10 hours per week (55%), compared to 31% of those using only GenAI and 33% using only business automation.
 
Despite these benefits, less than half (48%) of respondents trust the outputs from GenAI tools. Trust levels vary significantly by region, with Japan (26%), Germany (47%), and the U.S. (48%) expressing the least trust, while Singapore (67%), Korea (63%), and Hong Kong (62%) show the highest trust levels. The most common tasks for which employees use GenAI include drafting communications (38%), brainstorming (34%), and summarizing long-form content (30%).
 
In a related study by Accenture, published on June 10, it was found that consumers are overwhelmed by personalized advertisements, with nearly 90% abandoning purchases due to the deluge of ads. The research, which surveyed 19,000 customers across the retail, travel, and consumer goods industries, underscores the need for brands to use GenAI to reduce decision-making "noise" and enhance engagement, loyalty, and sales.
 
Additionally, the 2024 Work Trend Index by Microsoft and LinkedIn, released on May 16, revealed that 92% of knowledge workers in India use AI at work, compared to the global average of 75%. Despite the enthusiasm for AI, 54% of Indian leaders worry about their organization's lack of a clear AI implementation plan. Nonetheless, employees are proactively using AI tools, with 72% of Indian AI users bringing their own AI tools to work.
 
Overall, these studies highlight both the potential and the challenges of integrating GenAI into the workplace, emphasizing the need for better training, clear implementation strategies, and addressing trust issues to fully realize the benefits of these advanced technologies.