AI: What do Gen Z make of it?

AI in the workplace. The topic that’s completely taken over our LinkedIn algorithms. Will the creative process become fully automated? Will it completely change the creative industries? Is this report just some AI-written drivel?

AI adoption in the creative industries is significantly beating the UK’s national average of just 32% and there’s debates for and against its rapidly accelerating usage. Yet very few of these arguments seem to consider the attitudes and opinions of Gen Z. Crucially, our research shows that Gen Z’s integration and adoption of AI is being misunderstood, and their skills under-utilised in the workplace.

EXPLORE INSIGHTSEXPLORE INSIGHTS

Insight 1

Generational dissonance

You’d think the tech-savvy, always-online, Gen Z would be leading the charge for this new technology that's making all of our lives easier... yet our studies show that Gen Z are actually behind Millennials when it comes to adopting AI in their work.

What's even more interesting is that this insight only paints half the picture. When it comes to how effectively they’re using AI, Gen Z feel much more confident about their AI prowess than their Millennial counterparts.

Jack Robertson
Digital Strategist
Ice Hub
Gen Z

Mayowa Quadri
Head of Brand
VERSUS
Millennial

61% of Gen-Z are currently using AI in their work, compared to 76% of millennials.
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(Gen-Z were twice as likely to select ‘strongly care’)

Of the respondents who use AI in their work, 43% of Gen-Z feel like they’re making the best use of AI, compared to 23% of Millennials.

Insight 2

Why AI?

Despite the generational dissonance in AI adoption, Gen Z and Millennials are chiefly using AI tools for the same purposes, like saving time on admin and refining the quality of their own thinking, rather than using it to generate wholly new creative ideas.

However, we’re all about the future. As such, it was only right that we listened to voices that might understand the direction in which AI will take our industry.

Kojo Dwimoh
Creative / Founder
PAQ & CsCb
Gen Z

Only 30% of people across both generations use AI to come up with  out-of-the-box ideas.

90% of both Gen-Z and Millennials believe that side-hustles are here to stay.

→                          When these clashes arise, it can be more helpful to look at all the extra skills a side-hustle can provide, such as collaboration, leadership, and critical thinking. Side-hustles are here to stay and it’s up to companies to reframe them as a positive, enriching part of their employee culture rather than a distraction. Employers should explore how to nurture the skills and responsibilities developed in side-hustles and create clear opportunities for young people to transfer them into their day jobs.

Insight 3

AI Overlords

The question that we’re all thinking about: will AI take my job? Our answer to you is simple: we don’t know. Both generations were split on the question, so we guess we’ll just have to wait and see what the future holds.

Fiona Quadri
Freelance Creative
‍
Gen Z

Bonita Samuels
Creative Futures Lead EssenceMediaCom
Millennial

50%

of BOTH GENERATIONS think that AI will replace jobs in the creative industries.

RECOMMENDATIONS

We recognise that AI is here to stay, with an increasing number of people in our industry embedding it into their practice.

Yet, we firmly believe that it is not a replacement for human creativity. What it should do is act as a tool to accelerate our work, rather than wholly replace it. In order to do this, the industry needs clearer guardrails. It’s all well and good creating your own LLM or Gen-AI tool, but how confident are your employees in actually making use of them?

Our approach is simple: make the integration of AI a more transparent process in your organisation, communicating where it can and can’t be used. We’ve got some helpful tips below to get you started:

1) Encourage a culture of transparency Your staff team will undoubtedly be using AI tools in ways that you never imagined. Rather than leaving these innovations alone, have your staff share some of their findings with the wider team through intentional spaces.

2) Set out clear guardrails around where AI should and should not be used in the creative process. This includes identifying the potential risks of applying AI. This is obviously dependent on your company and your services. For us at YBB, we make it clear that AI should always be used to accelerate research and analysis, but rarely to create the big picture strategy.

3) Invest in training and development for staff  with clear guidance to ensure the effective use of prompts, as well as outlining in the recruitment process exactly what capabilities you are looking for when it comes to AI.

THE INDUSTRY'S SAY ON THE FUTURE

Alina Akbar
Freelance Creative
‍
Gen Z

Jude Umeh FBCS
Author & Fellow of the BCS, Charterered Institute for IT
Director, AI Strategy at Salesforce Global AI Practice
‍
Generation X

EXPLORE
THE REPORT.

Growing up through austerity, an unprecedented global pandemic, and a looming environmental crisis, Gen Z creatives continue to face a unique cocktail of challenges. In 2024 Youth Beyond Borders (YBB) and EssenceMediacom (EMC) set out to help the next generation with a flagship programme called Future Friday’s. The programme gave young people the opportunity to develop creative projects through 8 weekly micro-residencies in professional settings, with financial support and mentoring from leading figures in the creative sector. Our cohort of young creatives threw themselves into the project, creating some groundbreaking work and forging networks that will help them carve a path through the industry in years to come. Yet something still felt off. Participants reported that they often struggled to communicate with senior leaders in their placement organisations, and opportunities to present their ideas in formal contexts led to feelings of awkwardness and hesitation. Put simply, our participants felt that they were unable to be their authentic selves in the workplace, meaning that their creativity, enthusiasm, and potential were being overlooked.This is part of a wider trend that we have noticed within our network of 1,500+ young creatives in the U.K.

CAREERS

COMPANY CULTURE