Do you remember what happened at the University of Arizona in May of this year? Former CEO of Google Eric Schmidt mentioned AI and was booed by the graduates. Many were surprised, since the majority of the graduates were Gen Zers who are supposed to be embracing emerging technologies (like AI tools) enthusiastically.

However, the loud boos may indicate that this is not the case with this generation. Why is this the case, and how is Gen Z shunning AI tools?

Is Gen Z Sabotaging AI Tools in the Workplace

If you watch YouTube news documentaries, you have probably seen at least a few videos talking about how Gen Z is sabotaging AI tools in the workplace. 44% of the youngest workers have admitted to doing just that. 

Some of this may help explain why employers have been so eager to fire Gen Z workers almost as soon as they hire them. What would you do if you learned that your Gen Z employee had fed your paid version of Claude confidential company and client information?

Well, many Gen Z employees are guilty of doing just that. And the sabotage doesn’t end there. Others are resorting to using AI tools that their employers don’t approve of, ignoring AI-generated suggestions and outputs, not working according to AI guidelines or best practices, making sure that AI generates garbage content by feeding it low-quality prompts and information, fudging AI metrics and data to underplay its true performance, and refusing to be trained on AI tools.

Why On Earth Would They Do All of That?

Let me give you a scenario that best answers that question. Imagine you have been an accountant for 5 years and are doing well in your job. But one day, your boss brings in a new hire and tells you that you have to train that person. What’s worse is that your boss intends to fire you and give the new hire your position once you’ve finished training him.

Would you eagerly train him, or would you try to sabotage the process to try to keep your job? Yes, Gen Z is genuinely afraid that these AI tools will take their jobs.  Gen Zers are smart. They constantly hear the warning from AI pundits and economists that AI tools could wipe out as many as 300 million entry-level jobs over the next few years.

Then they see many of their friends apply to hundreds of jobs over the course of a few months and be lucky to land 4-5 interviews. Unfortunately, employers don’t hire Gen Z employees, even after having interviewed them extensively. But the abuse doesn’t end there. Many companies have interviewees complete free projects as part of the assessment process.

The companies don’t hire the candidates afterwards, but they do take the work, and either publish it on their own sites or use it for other internal purposes. This is often done without compensating the candidates for their time or efforts.

But those aren’t the only reasons why Gen Z is seeing red over AI tools. They are painfully aware of the fact that AI tools guzzle lots of resources that this planet doesn’t have, including water. That doesn’t sit well with them because they are a very eco-conscious generation.

Gen Z also supports all types of equality and fairness. Unfortunately, all AI tools scour the web for information, which they plagiarize when creating content. AI companies have faced lawsuits over intellectual property infringement. That enrages Gen Zers.

Gen Z hates the AI slop and deepfakes that saturate the Net now that these AI tools are everywhere.

Will AI Companies and Employers Have to Adjust to Gen Z ‘s Tastes

AI companies may have to adapt their tools to Gen Z’s genuine concerns. That would include crediting the authors, musicians, writers when their tools scrape their content. Employers have to assure Gen Z that AI tools will simply make them more productive and help them make more money, and not replace them.