In conversations with Business Insider’s Economy reporters and editors, Gen Z staffers were wary of sharing personal data with AI agents or giving them control, while millennials saw possible work and home efficiencies but said the tools need to become more accurate and reliable.
Gen Z staffers cited privacy, scams and loss of control. Some were open to using agents for specific work but reluctant to share personal information or grant access to inboxes. Several said friends in finance, consulting and tech-adjacent jobs seemed readier to adopt agents than peers in creative fields.
Millennials saw possible uses such as voice-based workday planning and scanning economics-paper abstracts, but wanted proof of reliability. Andy Kiersz said he would consider an agent for a useful task such as trip planning only after a sufficiently long period without major data breaches. Meta launched its Muse agent in early September. In a test, Ryan Kailath said login credentials and two-factor codes disrupted an airline-award search; Jacob Zinkula had not figured out a high-demand Christmas-season restaurant reservation after a 10-minute try. Kailath said he would use Muse if it improved.
