Underground AI in Workplace – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1145

Underground AI in Workplace – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1145

Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1145 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to pharmaveterans2017@gmail.com  for publishing your contributions here.

Mikhail Nilov

Mikhail Nilov

Preamble

This blog post takes key insights from HR Dive’s article “Younger employees use AI at work but don’t want to tell their bosses”, and couple of other articles on the same subject. It reflects workplace trends, underlying anxieties, and steps managers can take to bring clarity and trust in AI adoption.

When AI Goes Underground: What It Means When Employees Don’t Tell Their Bosses

In workplaces across the U.S., a surprising trend has taken root: many younger employees are secretly using AI tools at work and deliberately keeping it under wraps. According to a recent HR Dive report, nearly half of Generation Z and millennial workers conceal how much they rely on AI, from ChatGPT to workflow automation, citing a mix of job insecurity, unclear policies, and fear of judgment. This under-the-radar adoption has major implications for productivity, trust, and workplace culture.

Let's see what’s driving this shadow AI movement, and how leaders can respond thoughtfully.

Why Employees Hide Their AI Use

Fear That AI Could Replace Them

Almost 47% of younger employees say they hesitate to admit using AI because they worry it might make their role redundant. It’s not necessarily a disgruntled sentiment; it’s a self-protective response to AI-related workplace uncertainty.

Lack of Clarity Around AI Policies

About 30% of respondents said they are unfamiliar with their employer’s AI policy—or believe one doesn’t exist. This lack of clarity pushes them into stealth mode.

Shadow IT Proliferation

Over 60% reported using personal, rather than company-sanctioned software and apps to get work done. The result? Hidden tools, unmanaged risk, and potential data exposure.

Overwhelmed by Tool Overload and Excluded from Decision-Making

Nearly 70% feel overloaded by the number of tech tools at work, yet only 16% believe they have any influence over tool adoption decisions.

The Potential Consequences of Secret AI Use

Risk of Security Breaches and Data Leakage

When employees adopt AI tools without vetting, they may unintentionally expose confidential data, creating serious privacy and compliance risks.

Missed Productivity Gains

Secrecy limits knowledge sharing. What could become a structured productivity boost instead remains isolated “shadow efficiency.”

Erosion of Trust and Team Cohesion

When usage is hidden, managerial blind spots grow. This undermines transparency, erodes psychological safety, and seeds mistrust across teams.

Generational Disconnect

Younger workers see AI as essential. Managers often lag, creating a gap where employees adapt but leaders don’t fully support or understand those innovations.

What Leaders Can Do: Key Strategies

Create Clear, Human-Centered AI Policies

Employees want direction. Leaders should develop and share policies that clarify what AI use is encouraged, what’s discouraged, and what best practices look like. Simple guidelines shared in all-staff meetings or a one-pager—can shift shadow use into collaborative adoption.

Build AI Literacy Through Training

Only about 31% of employees say their employers offer AI training, yet adoption is widespread. Equipping employees with formal training and upskilling opportunities signals trust and signals that AI is part of the strategic toolkit, not a hidden workaround.

Invite Employee Participation in AI Tech Decisions

When employees feel excluded, they adopt informally. Involve them in piloting tools, evaluating workflows, or establishing feedback loops. This builds ownership and aligns tools with actual needs.

Monitor and Mitigate Isolation Risks

New findings show that employees encouraged to use AI often report higher isolation—especially among younger workers. AI shouldn’t replace human connection. Build opportunities for collaboration, meetups, peer check-ins, mentorship moments, so AI augments, not replaces, human interaction.

Frame AI as an Aid, not a Replacement

Reassure the team that AI’s role is to free up judgment, creativity, and problem-solving, not replace them. Recognize and reward how employees use AI to innovate, not just automate. This shift in messaging empowers rather than stirs fear.

A Peek into the Future: What’s at Stake

A parallel study reveals that employees often turn to AI before consulting co-workers, a shift known as “cognitive outsourcing”. Over time, this could diminish knowledge sharing, reduce team communication, and degrade learning cultures.

Meanwhile, 77% of workers believe AI will affect their careers in the next 3–5 years—and many are proactively shifting paths, upskilling, or side-gigging in response.

This dynamic wouldn’t surprise Vanguard’s chief economist Joe Davis, who likens AI’s impact to the dawn of personal computing—augmenting rather than replacing human work, but redefining roles and expectations.

Sum Up

The AI revolution in the workplace is happening with or without management approval. Nearly half of U.S. workers are already using AI tools to complete their jobs, often paying for these tools themselves and keeping their use a secret from supervisors. This underground adoption could represent part of a fundamental shift in how work gets done.

AI has already infiltrated daily workflows. The question is not whether your team uses it, but whether you're leading that adoption or letting it happen on the sly.

To transform stealth AI into strategic advantage:

Set clear policies

Train and empower your workforce

Include them in tech decisions

Prioritize connection, not isolation

Celebrate human-AI collaboration over automation alone

When AI becomes an open, guided, and supported part of work, not a hidden crutch, you shift from suspicion to innovation, from fear to ownership. That’s the leadership opportunity of our time.

Concluded.

Disclaimers: Pictures in these blogs are taken from free resources at Pexels, Pixabay, Unsplash, and Google. Credit is given where available. If a copyright claim is lodged, we shall remove the picture with appropriate regrets.

For most blogs, I research from several sources which are open to public. Their links are mentioned under references. There is no intent to infringe upon anyone’s copyrights. If, any claim is lodged, it will be acknowledged and recognized duly.

Reference:

https://www.hrdive.com/news/workers-use-ai-at-work-dont-want-to-tell-their-bosses/757291/ 

https://www.investopedia.com/this-generation-is-secretly-using-ai-at-work-every-day-and-not-telling-their-bosses-11785140 

https://www.hrdive.com/news/ai-adoption-workplace-isolation/756105/