Workers are increasingly critical of AI in the workplace, with women and younger employees expressing the strongest opposition, according to new analysis from Glassdoor.
AI mentions in Glassdoor employer reviews increased 240% from May 2025 to May 2026. But sentiment has deteriorated sharply. In 2019, 81% of AI mentions appeared only as a workplace positive. In 2026, that fell to 43%, while 53% appeared only as a negative.
Women Are More Critical Of AI
Women are significantly more negative about AI than men. Just 32% of women’s AI-related comments were positive, compared with 45% of men’s. The gap is largest among Gen Z workers. Forty-two percent of Gen Z men’s AI comments were positive, compared with just 21% among Gen Z women.
Among millennials, 44% of men’s comments were positive versus 33% of women’s. Glassdoor found that occupation and industry differences could not explain the Gen Z gap and accounted for only about one-third of the millennial gap.
Gen X showed a smaller divide: 50% of men’s comments were positive, while women’s comments were 42% negative. Occupational and industry differences fully explained that gap.
Workers Are Frustrated With How AI Is Used
Fear of job replacement was the most common specific criticism, appearing in 20% of detailed negative AI comments. But workers cited several other problems.
Fourteen percent criticized employers for forcing them to use AI tools, while 13% said AI was distracting companies from their core business or hurting customer experiences. Another 10% objected to AI being used for workplace surveillance or internal communications.
Workers also criticized unrealistic expectations about AI productivity and companies that failed to provide adequate tools or training.
AI Is Tied To Layoff Anxiety
AI-critical reviews were six times as likely to mention layoffs and 3.7 times as likely to mention burnout or job insecurity.
Twenty-five percent of reviews that mentioned AI as a workplace negative also mentioned layoffs.
Glassdoor notes that some of this connection reflects the concentration of AI-related change in white-collar jobs, which already face layoff and burnout concerns.
Executives Are More Positive
Company leaders were the most positive group, with 67% of their AI comments appearing as positives. Software architects, sales and product managers, recruiters, and data analysts and engineers were also among the most positive.
Insurance claims adjusters were the most negative, with 98% of AI comments appearing as negatives. Writers, journalists, accountants, customer service representatives, designers and IT workers were also highly critical.
AI exposure alone did not determine sentiment. Workers in moderately and highly exposed occupations frequently discussed AI, and the most exposed roles were somewhat more positive than some less-exposed occupations.
Larger Companies Face More AI Criticism
The arts had the highest share of negative AI comments at 89%, followed by nonprofits at 85%, insurance at 81%, telecommunications at 80%, and transportation and logistics at 79%.
Negative sentiment also increased with company size. AI comments were 51% negative at companies with 200 or fewer employees, compared with 67% at companies with more than 10,000 employees.
Workers who viewed AI positively were 47% less likely to apply for another job on Glassdoor after posting their review. AI-critical workers applied at rates similar to workers who did not mention AI.
The findings show that employee resistance to AI extends beyond job replacement. Workers are increasingly judging whether their employers are using AI in ways they consider useful, reasonable and supportive.
