Managers trust AI agents more than junior employees and interns, according to new data from SnapLogic.

The company has announced the findings of its AI at Work: Ground Truth for the Global Workforce report, which uncovers critical insight into AI adoption in the workplace.

Based on a survey of employees, mid-managers, and leaders across organisations in the UK, the report reveals that even though 81% of workers are already using AI tools in their role – with 57% using AI agents to save valuable time every week – nearly half (43%) of employees believe using AI tools is stigmatised as lazy or untrustworthy, with 24% of employees feeling judged or second-guessed when using AI.

Despite these disparities, overall, people do trust AI (22%) and their colleagues (23%) to do the same job to the same quality. As AI agents become more prevalent across teams, this illustrates the new reality for UK business, with key findings painting a picture of the workplace hierarchies of the future.

With this in mind, the report found that more than half of respondents (52%) believe they’re more likely to be managing AI agents than people in their future careers. Beyond this, 61% believe managing agents would be easier than managing humans and nearly half (46%) believe they will be managed by an AI agent.

The findings also show current AI training amongst firms is still lacking.

Only a third (36%) of people have received formal training on AI tools, with 54% being self-taught or learning how to use AI tools through trial and error. This raises concerns for data and privacy, as employees are left to their own devices, despite data and privacy being a top (98%) concern for employees.

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The most positive attitudes towards the technology can be found amongst senior leaders, where 70% of managers report being very confident with AI tools compared to just 33% of non-managers.

Dominic Wellington, Director of Product Marketing, said: “AI adoption continues at a rapid pace despite disparities in trust and training.  This is a critical moment for organisations to think carefully about deploying the technology to ensure trust across the workforce and realise the greatest business value.

“The future of work isn’t about replacing people, but instead using AI as a partner to strengthen what’s uniquely human: strategy, insight, and innovation.”