Gen Z Prioritizes Creativity and Curiosity in AI, but Ethics and Leadership Lag Behind !
Nicolas BEHBAHANI
Global People Analytics & HR Data Leader - People & Culture | Strategical People Analytics Design
💡 The majority of Gen Z are diverse AI users, actively experimenting with AI in both structured and unstructured ways across their personal and professional lives.
👉 While Gen Z will experience the long-term impacts of AI in the workplace, they have yet to achieve sufficient AI literacy to fully leverage its potential.
☝️ Gen Z lacks clarity on best practices for prompting with GenAI to achieve specific outputs, indicating a skills gap in effectively utilizing the technology.
📈 The most important skills for proficient AI use, according to Gen Z, are creativity and curiosity, critical thinking, coding/computer programming, and writing.
💥 Gen Z can be categorized into three groups of AI users: super users, varied users, and stragglers.
Gen Z perceives a distinction between educational and workplace contexts, assuming that AI use will be more favorably regarded in professional settings, according to a new interesting research published by EY and TeachAI with the support of Microsoft using data 📊 from online survey that explored Gen Z’s attitudes toward and the use of AI. From June 10 to June 28 2024; the survey collected 5,218 respondents drawn evenly from fifteen countries across five regions: Middle East, Africa and India (MEAI); Asia-Pacific; Europe; Latin America; and North America.
✅Gen Z’s Perspective on AI: Balancing the Benefits and Risks
Researchers noticed that the more AI knowledgeable Gen Z considers themselves, the more positively they view AI.
They listed the biggest benefits of AI, according to Gen Z:
and they listed biggest risks of AI:
✅The Three Types of Gen Z AI Users
Researchers surveyed Gen Z on their frequency of AI usage across eight personal and professional activities.
The results revealed three distinct groups of users:
1️⃣ Super users : Gen Z who use AI across all the eight activities offered in their personal and professional lives either daily, weekly or monthly.
2️⃣ Varied users: Gen Z who use AI across some of the eight activities in their personal and professional lives with a frequency depending on chosen activity.
3️⃣ Stragglers Gen Z who use AI across all eight activities either less than once per month, once or twice, or never. This group could include those who have just started using AI, have not utilized AI in the eight common ways listed, or have never used AI at all.
Researchers conclude that, despite the diversity among users, the majority of Gen Z is actively exploring AI, engaging with it in both structured and informal ways.
✅Integrating AI into Both Personal and Professional Lives
Researchers identified eight activities where Gen Z utilizes AI, spanning both professional and personal domains:
✔️ Creating or editing content (e.g. reports, e-mails, etc.)
✔️ Generating new ideas.
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✔️ Helping me learn a new skill for work / educational purposes.
✔️ Helping me learn about a topic for work / educational purposes.
✔️ Exploring what generative AI can do without a goal in mind.
✔️ Seeking to improve or help me in my personal life.
✔️ Creating or editing content.
✔️ Helping me learn about a topic or skill for personal interest.
✅Perceptions of AI Differ Between Educational and Professional Use
Researchers revealed that Gen Z believes AI use would be looked upon less favorably in an educational than work setting.
42% of Gen Z said they think teachers would discourage them from using generative AI (GenAI) to complete certain tasks, while only 15% said employers would discourage this.
From a values perspective, this finding indicates that Gen Z perceives a disconnect between the priorities of educators and businesses. This is concerning, as it suggests that Gen Z feels they are being taught one set of values in educational institutions but are expected to adhere to a different set in the workplace.
✅Skills Required for Proficient AI Use
Researchers identified the skills Gen Z believes are essential for proficient AI use. Four skills tied for first place: creativity and curiosity, critical thinking, coding/computer programming, and writing. When considering second and third choices, creativity and curiosity emerged as the top priorities.
Interestingly, ethics—a major concern for those advocating AI literacy—ranked quite low, highlighting the need for educators to give it special attention.
Researchers also found that Gen Z performs less well in identifying limitations and risks associated with AI than many might expect. Also there is a general lack of knowledge of GenZ around AI, which itself points to an overlap between understanding and evaluating AI within existing conceptions of AI literacy.
This speaks to a disconnect between perceptions of AI usage in the educational setting, and the expectations for usage once out in the workforce.
☝️ 𝙈𝙮 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬:
This remarkable research on Gen Z’s perception of AI, supported by a comprehensive global dataset, underscores the importance of developing a unified set of expectations for AI across various contexts. Whether this involves balancing educational and business approaches or aligning one with the other, it is clear that a shared understanding would benefit all stakeholders.
It is also concerning that ethics and leadership skills, which are crucial for those creating AI literacy guidelines, rank low on the skills priority list. This highlights the need for educators and businesses to give these areas special attention.
🙏Thank you EY researchers team for sharing these insightful findings:
Marcie Merriman Beatriz Sanz Saiz and all following persons cited in this research: Gina Neff Kristen Eignor DiCerbo Mar Carpanelli Pat Yongpradit Sooyeon Kim Laylah Bulman
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1wThank you for sharing Nicolas BEHBAHANI
HR Shared Services & Strategy Leader | GPHR®, SHRM-SCP®, GRCP, GRCA, IAAP, ICEP, IRMP Certified | Expert in People Operations, EX, & HR Transformation | Scaling Start-Ups for Success | ICF UAE Charter Chapter Ambassador
1wThank you for sharing Nicolas BEHBAHANI I believe organizations can leverage AI to benefit all generations within their workforce by providing training and education programs that focus on AI literacy and upskilling. This will not only benefit Gen Z but also other generations who may not be as familiar with AI.
Strategic Culture and L&D Lead | Talent Management | Culture Transformation Architect | Digital Innovation Champion | Data-Driven People Development
1wKey to successful multi-generational AI integration lies in balancing Gen Z's natural digital fluency with the knowledge of experienced professionals. This creates a symbiotic learning environment where creativity meets wisdom.
Industry Veteran | Exploring Future of Work | Great Manager’s Coach & Mentor
1wGreat research share Nicolas BEHBAHANI! 🙏 🎉 Gen Z might be prioritizing creativity & curiosity, but let's not forget: even the coolest AI can’t function ethically without solid leadership. 😉 ❌ From playing around with generative AI to the real challenges of algorithmic trading & data subversion, the stakes are very high. 🔍💡 ✅ "AI has the potential to escape our control & enslave or annihilate us. It's not just a tool; it's an agent capable of making decisions & inventing new ideas on its own". - Yuval Noah Harari. 🫡 Leaders, it’s time to step up! Effective AI use means thinking beyond the tech - consider People, Ethics, & Real-world impacts. 🌐✨ 🙌 Let's make AI a force for good, not just a shortcut for gains! 🚀📈
Lead consultant in HR Strategy & Value Management. Enhancing Value through Human Performance. Delivery of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Training. Lecturer and International Speaker on HRM and Value Management.
1wVery insightful and timely research Nicolas, AI can be a great aid to learning but that learning needs to be put into context if it is to add value (to the organisation and the individual). It is for this reason that there is a need to manage the information that is being utilised in a business context. As highlighted by Dave Ulrich, it is not just Gen Z that can benefit from using AI but if you want to engage people in its use then they have to understand the benefits that can be gained from it. In some cases it can make their work easier, in others it can provide development and growth - what can they gain from it? That is a question that is often raised. Perhaps Gen Z are in a better position to answer these questions due to their wide utilisation of AI. However, as pointed out by Andrew Lang AI needs to be used in a responsible manner, Great post Nicolas - thank you for sharing it with us.