How AI Is Impacting Skills Of Gen Zers In The Workplace

Forbes

06-04-2025

AI is proving to be a mixed blessing for some Gen Z workers. The rapidly developing technology, ... More which can shore up their workplace skills, can also pose challenges for them, according to employers.
AI is proving to be a mixed blessing for some Gen Z employees. The rapidly developing technology, which can shore up their skills, can also pose challenges for these members of the workforce, according to employers.
The downsides of AI should concern corporate executives.
'The technology is weakening the attention spans of Gen Z workers 'even more [and their] ability to do 'deep work.' It's weakening critical skills in evaluating their own work; GenZ who are entering the workforce now may never have learned how to do a certain task without AI support, so how can they 'evaluate' the AI work?,'Maria Gafforio, a senior behavioral analyst at Canvas8, a behavior insight company, pointed out in an email interview.
AI 'appears to be making Gen Z 'dumber,' if a new study by Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University is to be believed. In the research, it showed the more the workers tapped AI for help, the less critical thinking they did,' she pointed out.
'The rise of Generative AI in knowledge workflows raises questions about its impact on critical thinking skills and practices,' according to the research.
'One clear downside I've noticed is that some Gen Z employees struggle with fully understanding concepts end-to-end. When AI fills in gaps for them, they sometimes miss the bigger picture, making it harder to build deep expertise. This can impact problem-solving skills, as they might rely on AI-generated answers without questioning or truly analyzing them. Over time, this could create a knowledge gap—especially when it comes to troubleshooting, root cause analysis, and critical thinking,' Naveen Kumar Ramakrishna, software principle engineer at Dell, observed via email.
AI can help close Gen Zers' gaps in conflict resolution, asking or help, and effective ... More communication.
AI can help close Gen Zers' gaps in conflict resolution, asking or help, and effective communication, 'thanks to its ability to audit the skills, growth areas and goals of all employees, and create tailored learning paths that address the areas where different employees' skills lack,' Carina Cortez, chief people officer of Cornerstone, observed via email.
Embracing the potential of Gen Z in the workplace is essential for driving the long-term success and growth of an organization. Investing in the development of younger generations is mission-critical, and leveraging AI is a powerful tool to make it happen,' she noted.
Also on the plus side, AI helps speed up the work of Gen Z employees 'without [their] employers always knowing about it. It gives them more breathing space, which is just as well as Gen Zers are less worried about 'productivity theatre' than their Millennial counterparts,' Gafforio of Canvas8 commented.
Thanks to AI, 'Gen Z gets to spend less time doing 'boring' repetitive tasks to focus on the more creative interesting things. This is actually quite a big deal in terms of motivation (extrinsic vs intrinsic),' she pointed out.
'AI is also helping them work more efficiently. Before AI, ramping up on a new tool or project took longer, but now, they can get up to speed much faster. I've also noticed a rise in content creation—more professionals, including Gen Z, are sharing insights and ideas, largely because AI makes it easier to refine and articulate their thoughts,' Ramakrishna at Dell observed.
As AI continues to evolve, it can be a continuing challenge for executives to find the best ways to ... More help their companies—and their Gen Z workforce—take full advantage of it without creating more problems than the technology has the potential to solve.
'If I had to advize business leaders, I'd suggest striking a balance. Encourage AI use for efficiency, but also introduce more accountability and ownership in tasks. This ensures Gen Z employees don't just rely on AI blindly but actually validate and refine the outputs they receive. AI should be a tool to enhance work, not replace fundamental learning and critical thinking. Companies that get this balance right will have a workforce that is both highly productive and deeply skilled,' Ramakrishna concluded.
' We've been running an intern program for about a year [where] many of the interns were Gen Z.….Our playbook for onboarding and upskilling Gen Z interns has been evolving a lot. It's been hard to balance mastery vs. AI convenience. We want them to use AI as a tool, not a crutch, so they [can] develop critical thinking and problem solving skills that go beyond just automation. And yes, as an AI company, the irony isn't lost on us,' Omar Kouhlani, CEO of Runmic, a corporate revenue strategy company, commented via email.
'When clients ask us for best practices to implement AI at their company, we consistently tell them: if your AI isn't making your team sharper, you're building it wrong,' he concluded.
There are several lessons business leaders need to learn from how AI is impacting their Gen Z workers, Kraig Kleenman founder of the New Workplace, noted via email.
'Unlike previous generations that had to adapt to technological shifts, Gen Z is growing up with AI as an integral part of their workflow. AI, instead of just being a tool, is fundamentally changing how the new generation is learning and building their careers. Business leaders now need to pay close attention to how AI is reshaping the skills and what their new priorities should be,' Kleenman pointed out.
'Gen Z isn't being replaced by AI—they're evolving alongside it. The companies that recognize this shift and empower their workforce accordingly will gain a long-term competitive advantage,' he concluded.
As AI continues to evolve, it can be a continuing challenge for executives to find the best ways to help their companies—and their Gen Z workforce—take full advantage of it without creating more problems than the technology has the potential to solve.