A new global workforce study shows that AI tools are helping people work faster, but they’re also creating a new layer of errors, rework, and confusion inside companies. According to DHR Global’s Workforce Trends Report, 39% of employees say they’ve seen noticeable productivity gains from AI over the past year. The biggest improvements were reported in Asia and Europe, with North America slightly behind.

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But the same tools that cause those gains are also generating problems. One in five employees says they’ve run into misinformation, incorrect answers, or misleading outputs from AI systems. Those issues aren’t minor; 44% say they’ve had to redo work produced by AI, 43% say bad outputs ended up in internal communications, and 39% say the mistakes slowed down projects or caused confusion on their teams.

The report shows companies are trying to keep up, with a third adjusting learning and development programs and a quarter creating new roles to oversee AI systems. But most employees still don’t feel like they’re getting clear guidance about what AI means for their day-to-day work. Only 34% say their company has clearly explained how AI will (or won’t) affect their job. The gap is sharpest at the entry level: while 69% of C-suite leaders think communication about AI has been clear, just 12% of entry-level workers agree.

The disconnect is affecting engagement, too. Tech workers, the group most likely to say their companies give clear direction, report the biggest engagement boost from AI. In other industries, the lack of clear communication appears to be overshadowing the productivity gains.

For supply chain teams already working with forecasting tools, warehouse automation, and AI-driven planning systems, the findings point to a common challenge: AI can speed things up, but only if companies build the guardrails and communication needed to prevent small mistakes from becoming bigger operational problems.