One in five younger workers admit they exaggerate their artificial intelligence abilities in job interviews as pressure mounts on employees to master the technology.
More workers also feel overwhelmed by how quickly they are expected to deploy AI to tackle tasks, according to research, and almost half say learning to use the technology feels as onerous as having “a second job”.
Social network LinkedIn released the findings from a worldwide study today, which also found many employees were seeking to educate themselves on AI using free resources.
Last Friday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics named AI technology as the fastest-growing area for research and development. Its regulation was also a major discussion point at the government’s economic reform roundtable last week.
The LinkedIn research, conducted by Censuswide, surveyed more than 19,000 employees across 14 countries, including Australia, the UK and the US.
Almost half the workers surveyed (46%) said learning about AI was such a burden that it felt like taking on a second job, and one in three (37%) felt overwhelmed by AI expectations from employers.
Many respondents felt embarrassed about how little they knew about AI (28%), the survey found, and a large number of generation Z and millennial workers admitted to exaggerating their AI skills in job interviews (22%).
AI would not be the first technology to transform the job market, LinkedIn ANZ managing director Matt Tindale said, but it had made a fast and substantial impact on both businesses and employees.
“What the research is showing is this sense of being overwhelmed,” he told AAP.
“There is expectation from hiring managers around AI literacy and this all combines to give many professionals and jobseekers a sense of being overwhelmed by how much they have to learn and new technologies they have to be proficient in.”
The study also found almost two in three participants (63%) felt workers who resisted learning about AI would fall behind, and more than half were training themselves in the technology using free resources.
The results showed many were eager to adapt to a changing work environment, Tindale said, but others may need more guidance and reassurance that the technology does not require advanced computer skills.
“A lot of people have a misunderstanding about what [AI] means,” he said.
“Often people think it’s a highly technical, cumbersome thing to learn but it’s mainly just… how to use the tools to be more productive and successful, whether it’s Copilot or it’s ChatGPT.”
A recent Tech Council study found most Australian office workers were already using AI, and most expected the technology to transform their jobs by 2030 but not to replace them.
Source – https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/08/26/one-in-five-young-jobseekers-are-fudging-ai-skills-study/