A new national poll shows that while Americans are using artificial intelligence more, most are not ready to have it as their boss.
According to Quinnipiac University, only 15% of U.S. adults would be willing to work under an AI program that assigns tasks and sets schedules, while 80% would not. The survey also found that many people feel uneasy about AI’s impact on jobs, trust, and transparency.
Most respondents reject the idea of an AI supervisor
What stands out is not how many people support AI supervisors, but how few do, even as AI becomes more common at work.
The Quinnipiac poll, released March 30, surveyed 1,397 U.S. adults, including 800 who are employed. When asked about having an AI supervisor, 15% said they were willing, 80% were unwilling, and 5% were undecided.
Among Gen Z, willingness was 18%, but only 7% among the Silent Generation.
TechCrunch described the poll as a test of whether workers are ready to trade your manager for a chatbot, and found that most are not, at least for now. The publication pointed out that while AI is starting to handle some management tasks, most Americans are still uneasy with the idea of software directly assigning work and setting schedules.
AI use is rising, but trust remains weak
The poll is especially interesting because it shows a gap between using AI and trusting it. Quinnipiac found that 51% of Americans have used AI to research topics, 28% have used it to write something, and 27% have used it for school or work projects.
However, 76% said they trust AI-generated information either hardly ever or only some of the time, while only 21% trust it most of the time or almost all of the time.
Chetan Jaiswal, associate professor of computer science and associate chair at Quinnipiac, summed up this tension by saying, The contradiction between use and trust of AI is striking.
He also said Americans are adopting AI with deep hesitation, not deep trust. This helps explain why people may use AI as a tool but are not ready to accept it as a boss.
Job anxiety is growing faster than acceptance
The poll also shows that people are more worried about AI’s effect on jobs than they are comfortable with AI as a supervisor.
Quinnipiac found that 70% of Americans think AI will likely reduce job opportunities, up from 56% in April 2025. Among those who are employed, 30% said they are very or somewhat concerned that AI could make their own jobs obsolete, compared to 21% a year ago.
Tamilla Triantoro, associate professor of business analytics and information systems at Quinnipiac, said Americans seem more worried about what AI may do to the labor market than about what it may do to their own jobs.
This difference is important. Workers may see AI as a general threat to jobs but still feel their own positions are safe, at least for now. This means the idea of an AI boss comes at a time when people are already feeling anxious.
Tech companies are already testing AI-heavy workflows
TechCrunch placed the poll in a broader workplace trend where AI is already taking on management-like functions.
It pointed to Workday’s AI agents handling tasks such as filing and approving expense reports, Amazon deploying AI workflows that replace some middle-management responsibilities, and Uber engineers building an AI model of CEO Dara Khosrowshahi to review pitches before meetings with the real executive.
Those examples do not mean companies are widely replacing managers with bots today. But they do show why Quinnipiac’s supervisor question feels less hypothetical than it might have a year ago. AI is moving closer to scheduling, approval, coordination, and oversight — the kinds of functions workers often associate with management.
The signal in the poll
The main takeaway is not that Americans are ready for AI bosses. Instead, AI is becoming more common at work faster than people are comfortable giving it real authority.
Americans are using AI for research and work, but they still do not trust it much and are worried about job losses. So, the 15% figure seems less like a big change and more like an early sign of future workplace debates.
