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Futurum Primary Research

The New AI Workforce: Pressure, Productivity, and the Perception Gap

The people closest to AI trust it least — and your CEO probably isn't the one setting AI strategy.

Futurum surveyed 775 technology leaders and practitioners on how AI is actually landing inside the enterprise. The findings cut against the prevailing narrative: nearly a third of leaders report pressure to overstate AI success, the most AI-fluent employees are the most worried about displacement, and strategy ownership has shifted decisively to the technical C-suite.

Published · The Futurum Group

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Key Findings

Giving business leaders a fresh look at how AI is really impacting their workforce, Futurum Primary Research uncovers themes not addressed in other AI studies:
  • Leaders are pressuring teams to overstate AI success. 30% of respondents report pressure from leadership to inflate AI results, and 25% say their organization treats moving fast on AI as more important than governing it safely.
  • AI fluency correlates with more worry, not less. Respondents with advanced AI expertise are roughly three times more concerned about displacement than less-proficient peers (14% vs. 5%).
  • The technical C-suite owns AI strategy, not the CEO. 47% say the CTO, CIO, or CISO sets AI strategy, against 15% who name the CEO or President — a 3x gap.
  • AI-specific skills rank last in hiring priority. At 23%, AI skills trail technical fundamentals, soft skills, domain expertise, and leadership. Critical thinking leads at 79%.
  • Dependency, not displacement. 58% expect fewer technology staff within three years, yet only 14% have conducted AI-related layoffs — against 43% who restructured roles and 37% who increased AI hiring.

By the Numbers

Pressure is running ahead of proof

30%

report pressure from leadership to overstate the success of AI initiatives

Futurum, “Pressure to Perform”

27%

are currently realizing substantial ROI from their AI investments

Futurum, “Proof Lags Pressure”

58%

expect to employ fewer technology staff in three years as a direct result of AI

Futurum, “AI Hits Headcount”

4%

say their technology team is fully ready to operate in an AI-first environment

Futurum, “Preparing for Change”

The Ownership Gap

Who actually sets AI strategy?

Organizations are three times more likely to have a technical C-suite leader own AI strategy than the chief executive — a direct challenge to the CEO-led narrative published elsewhere.
47%
CTO / CIO / CISO
Name a technical C-suite leader as the owner of AI strategy.
15%
CEO / President
Name the chief executive as the owner of AI strategy.

Source: Futurum, “Strategy Remains Concentrated at the Top”

The Skills Myth

AI skills rank last on the hiring checklist

Asked to rank five hiring-priority categories, technology leaders put AI-specific skills dead last — behind fundamentals they consider harder to teach.
Technical hard skills
62%
Soft skills
53%
Domain expertise
36%
Leadership
25%
AI-specific skills
23%

Source: Futurum, “Skills in Demand” · Critical thinking and problem-solving cited by 79% as the most valuable soft skill

1 in 3

technology leaders say their organization is pressured to overstate AI success.

Is your AI ROI real — or is it good storytelling? This is the question the rest of the category has avoided asking.

Source: Futurum, “Pressure to Perform” · n=775

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Read the full findings

The people using AI every day are not the people deciding its direction. Get the complete report, including demographic cuts and analyst commentary.