74% of Workers Ask AI Questions Instead of Colleagues – With Potentially Serious Consequences

Workplace communication is undergoing a quiet transformation. Across industries, employees are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence chatbots for answers that they once took to a coworker. A July survey from cognitive assessment platform MyIQ found that about three-quarters of people who use AI now ask their chatbots questions instead of asking their colleagues. The shift may appear efficient, but research suggests it carries hidden costs: eroded trust, reduced learning, and a deeper sense of isolation at work.

The rise of AI in the workplace

Generative AI tools have matured rapidly since they first entered the mainstream. Today, they are used not only to answer questions but also to draft proposals, analyze spreadsheets, translate languages, and even simulate conversations. This has created a new dynamic in offices: instead of asking “Can I pick your brain?” many workers now type their question into a prompt box. A separate report found that 73% of tech job listings now require AI skills, underscoring how deeply AI has become part of the modern workplace.

Why asking AI feels easier than asking a colleague

For many workers, asking a chatbot is a low-stakes interaction. There is no fear of judgment, no worry about interrupting someone’s schedule, and no need to worry about appearing inexperienced. Adobe for Business reported in July that 68% of workers said they would be more comfortable asking a chatbot an obvious question than a coworker. The same report found that many employees view AI as a non-judgmental, endlessly patient resource.

The convenience factor is hard to ignore. A chatbot is available 24/7 and can provide an answer in seconds. In contrast, asking a colleague can require waiting for a reply, scheduling a call, or even worrying about office politics. But that convenience may be masking a deeper loss: the incidental interactions that build relationships and transfer tacit knowledge.

A digital wall between colleagues

Maria Goyal, a 25-year-old employee at a marketing agency in Colorado, has watched AI become woven into every aspect of her work over the past year. When she has a question, her coworkers usually tell her to ask the internal AI tool. Goyal says that makes her feel isolated and self-conscious about approaching more experienced colleagues for help or brainstorming. “It prevents me from learning more in depth rather than just having a robot do it for me,” she explained.

Goyal is not alone. A May report from Workday found that Gen Z workers are 12 times more likely than Gen X workers to feel completely disconnected from their coworkers. For younger employees, especially those who entered the workforce during or after the pandemic, the habit of turning to a screen instead of a person may be even more pronounced.

The hidden cost of skipping everyday conversations

Constance Noonan Hadley, founder and chief scientist at the Institute for Life at Work, has studied team dynamics, loneliness, and burnout for more than two decades. She calls the simple act of asking a coworker a question and getting a friendly, useful response an essential building block for workplace trust. The MyIQ study reinforced that idea, noting that a question can solve an immediate problem but also reveal who holds expertise, how a person approaches uncertainty, and which colleagues are willing to help.

“A question could solve an immediate problem, but it could also reveal who had expertise, how another person approached uncertainty, and which colleagues were willing to help,” the report stated. “AI can preserve the practical answer while removing much of that social information.”

This social information is often what new employees need to navigate their roles and develop professional judgment. Without it, even if the answer is technically correct, the employee may miss out on the built-in mentorship that emerges naturally from human collaboration.

The isolation factor

Workplace loneliness is already a significant concern. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about one in three American adults feels lonely, a trend linked to social isolation. Globally, about one in five employees report feeling lonely at work. The post-COVID rise of remote work has compounded the problem, and the growing reliance on AI may be making it worse.

Leadership expert Adam Mendler, who teaches at UCLA and hosts the “Thirty Minute Mentors” podcast, warns that the shift deserves attention. “AI presents a really big opportunity, but it also presents a challenge in that we absolutely need to ensure that we surround ourselves with other human beings, and as leaders, we need to create opportunity for more human connection,” he said.

Leaders face the same problem

When team members route their questions to AI, managers also lose an important window into what their teams are thinking, struggling with, and curious about. Hadley points out that being asked for help is part of a manager’s ability to gauge team morale and skill gaps. Mendler adds that senior leaders are focused on recruiting, retaining, and developing talent; if leaders interact less with their people, those core functions start to break down.

Sophie de Villiers, PR manager for MyIQ, notes that organizations may need to rethink how they support workplace learning. “If more of those questions go to AI now instead of their more experienced colleagues, then organizations may need to think differently about how they support workplace learning,” she said.

The business case for connection

Loneliness at work has concrete financial consequences. Researchers have linked workplace loneliness to higher absenteeism, greater turnover, increased healthcare costs, and lower productivity. Gallup estimates that low employee engagement—defined as the psychological attachment workers have to their work, team, and employer—cost the global economy about $10 trillion in lost productivity last year.

This means that while AI-powered efficiency may produce immediate gains, those gains can be offset by the long-term costs of a fragmented workforce. Teams that stop talking to each other may struggle with coordination, creativity, and conflict resolution.

Not all effects are negative

There are clear upsides to using AI for work questions. The MyIQ study found that 71% of respondents felt more self-sufficient, and 62% felt more comfortable making decisions on their own compared with a year earlier. As many as 86% of workers surveyed by Workday said they felt more productive. Adobe also found that remote workers were 35% more likely than on-site workers to experience a dip in imposter syndrome and mental load when using agentic AI.

For workers like Allison Clair, founder and president of communications firm AJC Communications & Advisory, AI is a valuable brainstorming partner. Clair often works asynchronously with clients in different time zones, and she frequently turns to AI to “hash this out with me.” She says the tool helps her become more productive by cutting down on extraneous chats and allowing her to focus on the work that needs to be done.

However, Clair is mindful that not every question should be farmed out to a machine. She schedules in-person client visits at least once a week and sets aside casual time to talk with her team. “I’ve definitely noticed that I do need to set up those times to chat with the people who work for me and get that face time in, and ask about their weeks and see how their weekends have been,” she said.

Making AI a supplement, not a substitute

Finding the right balance may be the key challenge for organizations in the coming years. AI cannot replicate the emotional support, mentorship, and shared experience that comes from working with other people. But it can also be designed to encourage human connection rather than replace it.

In a recent piece in Harvard Business Review, Hadley and Sarah L. Wright outlined practical steps for companies. They recommend monitoring the social impact of AI adoption, setting guidelines for when AI should replace human interaction, designing AI to prompt human interactions (for example, an assistant might direct an employee to talk to a human before answering), and using AI to support relationship-building activities such as planning a monthly team outing.

Companies might also consider designing their AI systems with a “human first” bias. For example, an AI assistant could offer to connect the employee with a relevant expert after providing the answer. It could also schedule collaboration sessions based on recurring questions. These small design choices can go a long way toward keeping people connected.

For Goyal, the ideal future includes more open dialogue at work, with AI functioning as a supplement to collaboration rather than a replacement for it. The technology should make work better, she says, not make people more isolated. As Clair puts it: “Work is also relationships and people, and so I don’t think there’s any real replacing the day-to-day of that.”

Source: ZDNET News