Love your boss? Think they love you? Think again. Some love AI even more.
One in 10 Utah managers say they would trade you for AI, according to a survey by Trio.dev, a company specializing in software team-building. Among the findings of the survey of more than 3,000 managers nationally, 15 percent said they would replace an employee if it cut company costs by as little as 5 percent.
Utah’s 10 percent figure is less than half of the national average of 21 percent that admitted they would feel no guilt at all about replacing their staff with AI. The highest figure is 67 percent in Maine. The lowest is 8 percent in Idaho.
“With AI creeping into nearly every corner of the workplace, the looming fear among workers is obvious: Will I be replaced by a machine? But the real power doesn’t rest with the algorithms; it rests with the managers,” Trio.dev said. “Managers are the ones who weigh the spreadsheets, balance the budgets, and ultimately decide whether a role stays human or gets handed over to an algorithm.”
When asked which factor most influenced their thinking, the results reveal where loyalties really lie. Thirty-six percent of managers nationally said it is pressure from upper management or shareholders, 31 percent said productivity gains, 27 percent said cost savings and 6 percent said industry trends or competitors.
“In other words, it’s less about futuristic efficiency and more about who’s breathing down their neck in the boardroom,” Trio.dev said.
The survey reveals that not all jobs are viewed the same way when it comes to AI. Technical positions such as coding and design top the list of AI-jeopardized positions (about one-third cited by managers), followed by customer service (25 percent) and clerical staff (16 percent). Creative roles — the kind many assume to be “uniquely human” — are still considered replaceable by 15 percent of respondents. Sales roles, however, were the least likely to be seen as ethically swappable, at just 11 percent.
What about cost savings? Fifteen percent of surveyed managers said they would replace an employee for as little as a 5 percent cost cut. However, half of the respondents said they would only make the switch at a 50 percent saving.
AI appeared to be more uneasy about replacing workers with AI than with cheaper overseas employees. Fifty-seven percent of respondents would opt for AI, while 43 percent would go for overseas employees.
Don’t expect managers to tell you that you’re on the way out of the company. Forty-six percent of respondents said they would tell staff upfront if AI replacements were coming, but 54 percent admitted they would keep it under wraps until the change was unavoidable. “That suggests workers may not know what’s happening until the pink slip is already printed,” Trio.dev said.
“This intentional lack of communication can likely be attributed to the misalignment between the desire of managers to replace humans with AI and the decisions made at an executive level,” it said. “Even those who are eager to replace people may try to minimize the negative impact of this decision on company culture.”
“AI is often framed as an unstoppable force, but what we’re seeing is that the real gatekeepers are managers and executives. The striking part isn’t only how many say they’re willing to replace workers; it’s how quickly financial reasoning outweighs ethical hesitation,” said Alex Kugell, co-founder and chief technology officer of Trio.dev. “For employees, this is a reminder that the AI conversation isn’t only about technology. It’s about trust, transparency, and the human decisions shaping the future of work.”
Details about the survey are at https://trio.dev/managers-are-ready-to-replace-employees-with-ai/.