- TeamViewer report finds that 71% of autonomous AI users set up guardrails, but 61% wouldn’t even use autonomous AI to begin with
- The average worker spends more than 2 hours per week validating AI production
- Security and privacy could have the biggest impact
New research from TeamViewer places trust as the last major barrier to AI adoption, with workers generally viewing the tool positively but struggling to give it full independence.
Today, three in four workers use AI daily and only 3% say they see no notable benefits in the workplace, but almost all (95%) of respondents have at least some concern about AI operating without a human in the loop.
This fight speaks to the evolution of AI from generative to agent, and workers are more concerned about the autonomy of AI agents than the actual ability of AI to produce results.
The biggest barrier to agent AI is trust
Three in five (61%) said they would prefer AI not take independent action, and only about a third (35%) would be willing to have it act autonomously on their behalf. The majority of that group (71%) are only comfortable with AI handling defined tasks, confirming that security and guardrails are a necessity.
Regarding the impact of trust on productivity, more than half (56%) often or always verify AI results before trusting them, and spend an average of two hours per week verifying AI-generated work.
“The real opportunity is to use artificial intelligence and automation to prevent disruptions, improve digital experiences, and free people to focus on higher-value work,” CEO Oliver Steil wrote.
Strong security and privacy protections would have the greatest impact on making autonomous AI more acceptable, followed by notifications before significant changes are made, restrictions on what information the AI can access, monitoring tools for agent activity, and the option to reverse any action.
“The next step is to design systems that know when to act, when to wait, and when to have people make the decision,” added Mei Dent, director of product and technology.
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