Nearly half would let AI negotiate their salary, while 76% have never heard that AI can provide biased career guidance
Artificial intelligence has become a mainstream source of career and financial advice for American workers, according to a national survey of 2,131 U.S. adults conducted by The Harris Poll in collaboration with Ruth AI, the AI career strategist built for women.
The full study, The Trust Gap, is available at https://ruthapp.ai/research and has already drawn coverage from Fast Company.
Nearly half of Americans (45%) have used an AI platform such as ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini for career or work-related advice. That rises to 66% of Millennials and 63% of Gen Z. One in three U.S. adults has used AI for advice about money at work, including salary, raises, bonuses, or negotiating pay.
Americans are also increasingly willing to let AI act on their behalf. Eighty-one percent would be comfortable having an AI agent handle at least one part of a job search, climbing to 90% of Millennials. A majority would let AI search for jobs (67%), conduct pre-interview research (67%), update their resume (65%), or apply for jobs outright (55%). Nearly half would let AI negotiate their benefits (49%) or salary (47%).
Yet awareness of the technology’s documented limitations remains low. Three in four Americans (76%) had never heard that independent research has found AI can produce biased career and salary guidance. Seventy-two percent agree that AI can sound confident even when its advice turns out to be wrong.
“Americans are handing AI some of the most consequential decisions of their working lives, from the job search to the salary ask, while most have never heard that the guidance can carry bias,” said Valerie Chapman, founder and CEO of Ruth AI. “We are delegating faster than we are asking questions. The responsibility now falls on the people building AI to earn the trust users are already giving it.”
