AI has moved from executive strategy decks into everyday work, and employee reaction is becoming harder to ignore. A Glassdoor analysis of employer reviews shows that U.S. workers are now far more critical of workplace AI than they were several years ago, even as mentions of the technology have surged.
The clearest signal is the direction of sentiment. Positive AI sentiment among U.S. workers fell from 81 percent in 2019 to 43 percent by mid-2026, while negative comments climbed to 53 percent. That does not mean every worker rejects AI, but it does show a sharp shift in how employees describe the technology when reviewing their employers.
AI is showing up in more jobs
Employee reviews suggest AI is no longer a niche topic for technology teams. AI mentions in US reviews jumped 240 percent from May 2025 to May 2026, according to the Glassdoor analysis. Once a job has even moderate exposure to AI, comments about it appear across nearly every profession.
Some roles remain mostly outside the discussion. Jobs that AI barely touches, such as butchers or electricians, rarely mention it. But among roles where AI has entered workflows, employees are increasingly willing to evaluate how their companies are using it.
The split is especially visible inside technical work. Software architects mention AI more than any other role and tend to describe it positively. Software engineers, whose work centers more on writing and reviewing code, are more doubtful, with 57 percent of their comments skewing negative.
Executives are the most AI-positive group overall. That contrast matters because executives often decide how quickly AI tools are introduced, while employees are the ones who must work with those systems day to day.
Positive reviews follow two main patterns
The Glassdoor analysis found that detailed positive comments tend to cluster around two explanations. Some workers are positive because their companies are benefiting from the AI boom. Others are positive because their employers are helping them use AI with tools, training, and support.
Among positive reviews, 44 percent come from workers at companies described as AI winners. Another 41 percent praise employers for supporting AI adoption. About 27 percent of positive reviews are generic and do not include much specific detail.
That pattern suggests employees are more likely to welcome AI when they can see either a business upside or practical workplace support. In those cases, AI is presented less as an imposed disruption and more as something connected to company momentum or usable help.
For employers, the implication is straightforward. The technology itself is not the only issue. Employees also judge whether the rollout is coherent, supported, and relevant to the work they actually do.
Frustration goes beyond fear of replacement
Job loss is the most common negative theme, but it is not the whole story. Fear of job loss accounts for 20 percent of negative comments. Many reviews draw a direct line between AI and job losses, while Glassdoor analysts also note that some negative sentiment overlaps with office jobs where burnout and layoff fears are already common.
Other complaints are more operational. Another 14 percent of negative comments say companies force employees to use AI. Some workers say management pushes buggy tools into their work, a complaint that appears especially strongly among insurance claims workers.
Workers also describe broader problems with how AI changes the workplace:
- 13 percent see AI as a distraction from core business or as something that degrades the customer experience.
- Ten percent criticize internal AI use as alienating, including workplace surveillance or automated messages from management.
- Eight percent say bosses have unrealistic productivity expectations.
- About ten percent of negative comments come from workers who think their companies are too slow to adopt AI or do not provide the right tools.
That final group is important because it is negative about the employer, not necessarily negative about AI. These employees appear pro-AI in spirit but dissatisfied with how their companies are handling adoption.
Some occupations are much more critical than others. Insurance claims workers rate employer AI efforts almost entirely negatively. Writers, accountants, and customer service reps also lean critical by a four-to-one ratio.
Demographic gaps are sharp
The analysis also shows that AI sentiment varies strongly by gender and generation. Men rate AI positively 45 percent of the time, compared with 32 percent for women. Gen X is the most receptive group, with 47 percent positive comments. Millennials come in at 40 percent, and Gen Z at 33 percent.
The gap is most striking among younger workers. Only 21 percent of AI comments from Gen Z women are positive, compared with 42 percent from Gen Z men. Among Gen X workers, Glassdoor says the gender gap can be explained by differences in industry and occupation. For Gen Z, according to the analysis, that explanation does not apply.
Industry and company size also shape sentiment. Tech workers mention AI most often, with positive and negative comments roughly balanced. Media and communications workers also discuss AI frequently but lean more critical. Workers in arts and nonprofit organizations have the most negative views.
Large companies appear to draw more negative AI commentary than small ones. At small firms with fewer than 200 employees, 51 percent of AI comments are negative. At large companies with more than 10,000 workers, that figure rises to 67 percent.
A wider trust problem for workplace AI
Glassdoor reviews do not represent the entire US workforce. The source notes that unhappy workers tend to leave reviews more often than satisfied ones. That means the shift over time may be more meaningful than any single raw number, assuming the platform's negativity bias has remained stable across the years.
Still, the findings align with other research cited in the source. A survey of US adults from April found that Gen Z is particularly critical of AI. A study from Anthropic showed overall skepticism among US workers, especially around skill erosion and job losses.
Stanford's AI Index 2026 also supports the idea of a major perception gap. It found that 73 percent of US experts rated AI's impact on the job market as positive, while only 23 percent of the public agreed.
Together, these signals point to a central challenge for employers. AI adoption is not judged only by efficiency claims or executive optimism. Workers are judging whether the tools are reliable, whether they improve the work, whether expectations are realistic, and whether the rollout respects the people expected to use them.