Employees who use AI at work save an average of 2.3 hours a day, yet 83% worry a single AI mistake could get them blamed or fired, according to GoTo’s “The Pulse of Work in 2026” study.
The research, run with workplace research firm Workplace Intelligence, surveyed 2,500 global employees and IT leaders between November 2025 and January 2026. It found 82% of employees use AI at work and 98% of IT leaders say their company does, even as 31% of workers say fear of blame has made them hesitate to use it.
The study points to thin guardrails. Only 24% of small businesses and 36% of midsize firms report having an AI policy, compared with 53% of large companies. Some workers exploit the gap: 26% said AI lets them avoid accountability and 17% admitted blaming AI for a mistake they made.
GoTo called for a culture of “informed accountability” rather than fear-based compliance, saying honest errors made while following good practice should be treated differently from careless ones.
The survey also found that 55% of employees do not always double-check AI outputs, even for high-stakes tasks, and 43% have used outputs they suspected were low quality or fabricated. That combination of heavy use and light verification is where much of the risk sits.
The findings track with India’s fast adoption. The India Skills Report 2026 found more than 90% of Indian employees have already begun using generative AI tools. With adoption running ahead of policy, the report frames accountability, not access, as the next workplace management challenge. TPB has separately reported that AI and ML teams feel the least job-secure in a July 2026 survey.
