Fear of job loss is driving some employees quietly to sabotage AI projects, a global study has found. South Africa is not immune.

TechCentral

A global study by enterprise AI vendor Writer found that 29% of employees admit to deliberately sabotaging their company's AI rollouts, rising to 44% among Gen Z workers. Sabotage takes forms including feeding proprietary data into public AI tools, using unapproved platforms, and deliberately producing low-quality AI output — primarily driven by fear of job loss. South African AI expert Dean Furman confirms resistance exists locally but says it is heavily dependent on company culture and psychological safety. The piece also examines 'shadow AI' — employees using consumer tools like ChatGPT outside sanctioned stacks — and questions whether this constitutes sabotage or simply reflects lagging official rollouts. Key findings include that AI super users are three times more likely to receive promotions, and 60% of executives plan to lay off employees who won't use AI. The article urges executives to develop AI literacy themselves to detect and address resistance effectively.

AI sabotage in the workplace is real – and SA firms aren’t immune