Dive Brief:
- Just shy of half of U.S. adults (47%) would let artificial intelligence handle pay negotiations for them, a recent report by AI career strategist Ruth AI and The Harris Poll found. For men, that number climbs to 53%.
- Yet more than three-quarters of adults said they didn’t know that AI can give biased career and salary advice, including recommending lower salaries for women and people of color.
- “People are handing the most consequential money conversation of their lives to a tool most have never questioned,” Valerie Chapman, founder and CEO of Ruth AI, wrote.
Dive Insight:
Of the 2,131 adults surveyed, 1 in 3 have already asked AI about their salary, a raise, a bonus or how to negotiate. Millennials are the most likely to do so, with more than half saying they have.
Workers aren’t only turning to AI to negotiate pay; 49% said they would also use it to negotiate benefits, the report showed.
Among those who have asked AI for career or pay advice, 43% said they think that their race, gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation influenced the advice given to them. And when told AI can recommend lower salaries for women and people of color, half said they were disappointed, a third said they were angry, and 16% didn’t mind.
While experimentation with AI in pay, benefits and total rewards increased from 2025 into early 2026, most HR and total rewards professionals surveyed by Korn Ferry said their organizations are in the early stages.