Why IT Workers Aren’t Afraid of AI

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Over half of IT workers feel overwhelmed by the number of tasks they have to do in a day. On any given day, the average IT worker only has the capacity to support 85% of the tickets they receive, and while roughly half are easy for IT teams (50% in the U.S., 48% in the U.K., and 46% in India), nearly one-third (29%) of tickets are considered difficult to resolve.

The international poll of 1,000 United States-based, 250 United Kingdom-based, and 250 India-based IT decision-makers found 58% overall feel overwhelmed — 78% in India, 60% in the U.K. and 53% in the U.S.

IT workers also reported frequently being responsible for a range of additional tasks within their organization, which may contribute to feeling overwhelmed. Respondents said they are responsible for addressing cybersecurity issues (39%), internal security issues (26%), and a lack of budget (25%).

But, according to the study commissioned by  GoTo  and conducted by OnePoll, AI (artificial intelligence) is increasingly coming to the rescue of IT teams and is likely to continue evolving the way they work in the years ahead.

Helpful AI

A large majority of respondents (92%) would consider the use of AI beneficial for work, and 94% said they would be willing to delegate simple tasks to AI. Seventy-three percent would also be willing to delegate even complex tasks to the technology.

On average, IT workers believe delegating tasks to AI could save them more than two hours of work during any given workday.

Four in five (83%) believe it would be easy for them to offload their simpler tasks to AI. In fact, the potential of AI has caused 93% of IT leaders to consider upskilling in order to leverage the technology in their day-to-day tasks.

The most commonly reported tasks IT teams are looking to offload to AI include monitoring network performance (44%), basic device troubleshooting (42%), and remediating basic problems (40%).

“Despite many feeling overwhelmed, we’re excited to see how IT decision-makers are seeing AI as a beneficial tool that they can use to make IT easier to manage,” said Olga Lagunova, Chief Product and Technology Officer at GoTo. “Many people see AI as this scary entity, capable of taking their jobs. But what this data tells us is that there are many people in this industry across the globe who see it as a way to make their own workloads easier.”

The survey also revealed 73% of IT teams already use AI, and 61% of those who don’t are planning to adopt it in their organization within the next 12 months. Sixty-five percent said their team is directly responsible in deciding if their organization will use AI in the future.

In adopting AI, many shared how they believe their roles will be affected over the next 10 years: having more time to focus on higher-priority tasks (48%), more efficient ticketing workflows (43%), and additional IT team responsibilities (41%).

If AI were able to manage certain tasks on their behalf, respondents would spend more time working on improving their organization’s IT infrastructure (55%), focus on more difficult tickets (46%), or improve their organization’s security (42%).

In the U.S., 44% would aim to improve their organization’s security. Meanwhile, many in India (48%) and in the UK (36%) would take the time to focus on their professional development.

AI Concerns

Even though AI can make IT jobs easier, there are still a number of concerns about this emerging technology. For instance, there are concerns over privacy, data bias, and even job security.

According to Forbes, privacy is often one of the biggest concerns when using AI, as the lines between security and surveillance blur. Even in a field like IT, information could be gathered from data, which can pose security issues. There are also ethical issues around AI when it comes to its training. AI is only as good as the data that trains it, so in order to make sure AI is up to day, researchers and developers need to continue to update the software. 

But if AI is helpful with job tasks, there is always the threat that one day, AI could push people out of their jobs. While it’s helpful to have this tool around, there’s always a fear that AI could replace parts of IT jobs or even full positions.

“There’s no denying that there’s still a lot for us to learn about AI and what it can do,” continued Olga Lagunova. “What’s important to keep in mind is how people in the IT industry are keeping themselves properly up to date and informed on the best practices of AI in their workflow. And we believe that it’s going well.”

While AI is overall helpful, it’s always important to be on guard, learn more about AI, and research how it can help assist in careers.