Companies across the U.S. are testing generative AI to boost productivity — with mixed success.

Why it matters: C-suite AI proponents have been pushing a "use it or get left behind" mentality, but it's often up to the rank and file to figure out how to implement AI in their day-to-day work.

What we're hearing: AI is helping workers offload time-consuming menial tasks, and it's handling some complex work better than humans.

• Jason Rabinowitz, head of content creation at airline retailing firm ATPCO, told Axios that work that once took days now takes "about two hours" with AI's help to handle complex workflows and multiple spreadsheets.
• Rabinowitz also described pitting AI-translated materials against human-translated versions in a "blind trial" — and finding that, so far, the AI-translated versions are "more readable and more accurate."

Reality check: AI's work needs to be checked, and that process is sometimes more time-consuming than not using AI at all.

• Workers still worry that generative AI will take people's jobs (with AI proponents countering that, like past disruptive technologies, it will create new, unforeseen jobs).

By the numbers: About 1 in 6 U.S. workers say they're using AI to do at least some of their work, per a recent Pew survey, while another 25% say AI could do at least part of their jobs.

• 52% of workers are worried about AI's impact, while 32% say it'll reduce job opportunities.
• Yet 36% say they're optimistic about AI's potential.

The big picture: AI's value comes down to how it's used, says Alexia Cambon, senior director of research at Microsoft. (Microsoft is a major investor in ChatGPT maker OpenAI and runs a GenAI chatbot called Copilot.)

• "There's a command-based approach, where you look at AI and you think, 'AI has to obey me — I'm going to give it a really simple prompt, and it has to do what I want it to,'" Cambon says.
• "And then there's the conversation-based approach, which is ... 'I'm going to use it as a thought partner, and I'm going to use it to brainstorm' — and that requires a lot of critical thinking, and that is the preferable way to use AI in a work context."

The other side: Ed Zitron, CEO of PR agency EZPR and prominent AI skeptic, argues that many corporate leaders are pushing AI despite being too disconnected from their companies' day-to-day work to understand its actual use.

• "What I think we're seeing is the biggest mask-off in corporate history, of bosses that do not know what they're talking about, that do not touch their businesses, shoving ChatGPT and other generative AI into everything because they don't know how anything works," Zitron says.

New York, Seattle and San Jose had the most overall AI job openings this past January, by one estimate.

Why it matters: Despite fears of AI job loss, some are finding new roles in the field.

How it works: These estimates come from UMD-LinkUp AI Maps, a collaboration between the University of Maryland, job listings platform LinkUp and Outrigger Group, a consultancy and executive firm.

• The researchers involved are using AI to analyze job postings for roles requiring AI skills.

The bottom line: If you're looking for an AI job, the country's long-standing tech hotspots are hard to beat — but D.C. and Dallas are promising, too.

Go deeper: AI jobs on the rise, new LinkedIn report finds

Gen Z workers are approaching generative AI with a mix of caution and optimism.

Why it matters: Today's young workers are starting their careers during a massive technological revolution.

The big picture: Employers and HR pros say they're willing to take chances on otherwise less qualified candidates if they have AI experience, Christine Cruzvergara, chief education strategy officer at entry-level job platform Handshake, tells Axios.

• Gen Z "is likely to be the generation that is going to help teach the rest of the workforce GenAI," Cruzvergara adds. "They're more comfortable with it, they don't mind experimenting with it."
• The share of job descriptions on Handshake mentioning generative AI more than tripled from 2023 to 2024 — but still represented fewer than 1% of listings in April 2024.

Case in point: Avalon Fenster, 23, taught herself how to use AI in her personal and professional life — then wound up showing her older co-workers the lay of the land during internships.

• Fenster now runs a platform called Internship Girl, which uses AI to help provide career resources to about 350,000 young women from more than 100 countries.
• She promotes AI to level the professional playing field, especially for first-generation college students or non-native English speakers.

Threat level: Fenster, now a law student, is concerned about AI's impact on critical thinking skills, and wants companies and schools to provide AI literacy training.

• "Even as a young person who is native to these tools, even as someone who advocates for them, I do have concerns over the way that it impacts our ability to think independently, formulate ideas, communicate ideas," she says.

AI's environmental toll is a turnoff for other young people.

• "I personally took a stand to not use AI because of the climate impact," says Katya Danziger, a 25-year-old computer science student and research assistant at Parsons, who stopped using AI chatbots about six months ago.
• Each time you ask ChatGPT a question, you're using much more energy than you would for a Google query, at least when Google doesn't automatically append an AI-generated summary to the results.

Career impact is also a Gen Z concern.

• In a recent Pew survey, 35% of U.S. workers between 18 and 29 said they think AI will lead to fewer job opportunities.

Yes, but: "Sometimes having a little bit of nervousness around the fact that it might impact your career is not a bad thing," Cruzvergara says.

• "It keeps you on your toes a little bit, and makes it so that you're ready and nimble."

• Report: AI voice programs lack proper safeguards to keep users from cloning people's voices without their consent. (Consumer Reports)
• "Be specific" and other quick tips for using AI at work. (Axios)
• While citations are a welcome addition to AI chatbots, many of them are still incorrect. (Columbia Journalism Review)
• Ahead of a planned IPO, CoreWeave signed an $11.9 billion deal with OpenAI, which has been seeking to diversify its infrastructure beyond Microsoft. (Reuters)

In celebration of Mario Day (Mar10), Lego announced a giant new Mario Kart set featuring a posable Mario. The $170 set contains nearly 2,000 pieces and is due out May 1.