Why Employees Aren’t Transparent About Their AI Usage

2026-06-10 · Source: Feeds - HBR.org · Field: Business & Management — Corporate Strategy & Leadership, Human Resources & Workforce Development, Operations & Process Management · Depth: Fundamental Awareness, long

Summary

A Harvard Business Review article from June 10, 2026, by Eric Anicich and Jeslyn Brouwers, reveals that employees often conceal their AI usage and valuable AI workflows, not due to poor governance, but a lack of organizational trust. A KPMG and University of Melbourne study found 57% of employees hide AI use, while the authors' survey of 604 U.S. employees showed 30.3% intentionally withheld AI knowledge. This "AI knowledge hiding" stems from perceived costs: reputational damage (appearing less capable), increased workload (efficiency gains leading to more tasks), and fear of replaceability (methods being documented and automated). The article emphasizes that leaders must foster psychological safety and credibly commit to a culture where sharing AI innovations benefits employees, rather than undermining their standing or increasing their burden.

Key takeaway

For Directors of AI/ML aiming to maximize organizational AI ROI, you must prioritize building a culture of trust and psychological safety. Your teams will only share valuable AI workflows if they believe disclosure enhances their standing, rather than increasing workload or risking job security. Implement clear policies, reward shared innovations, and ensure efficiency gains benefit employees directly to foster collective AI intelligence.

Key insights

Employees hide AI usage primarily due to low organizational trust and perceived personal costs, not just governance issues.

Principles

• Trust and psychological safety drive AI knowledge sharing.
• Efficiency gains should not lead to increased workload.
• Reward multiplier behavior over individual productivity.

Method

Leaders should foster psychological safety by providing clear AI use guidance, explicitly defining how efficiency gains benefit employees, and rewarding shared innovations rather than individual productivity.

In practice

• Use lightweight templates for sharing AI workflows.
• Implement structured conversations about AI techniques.
• Credit contributors for adopted AI methods in reviews.

Topics

• AI Adoption
• Organizational Trust
• Psychological Safety
• Knowledge Sharing
• Employee Productivity
• AI Governance

Best for: CTO, Executive, Director of AI/ML, VP of Engineering/Data, Consultant

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Editorial summary, takeaway, and curation by AIssential. Original article published by Feeds - HBR.org.