Big Tech companies are no longer just encouraging employees to use AI. They are starting to measure it.
A new report by Business Insider shows how companies like Meta, Google, and JPMorgan Chase are embedding AI into performance reviews, tracking usage, and tying adoption to career progression.
According to Business Insider, “using AI at work is no longer an option; it’s a job requirement,” as companies face growing pressure to prove that their massive AI investments are actually delivering results.
That pressure is beginning to reshape how work itself is evaluated.
At JPMorgan, Business Insider reported that internal dashboards now track how often employees use AI tools, classifying them as “light,” “heavy,” or “non-users.” At Meta, engineers are being grouped into AI-focused “pods,” with targets tied to AI-assisted output. At Google, some managers can mandate the use of AI tools, with expectations extending beyond engineers to roles like sales and strategy.
The message, as one JPMorgan engineer told Business Insider, is, “This is what the job’s going to look like no matter what.”
The shift is not just about productivity. It’s also about optics. Companies want to show investors and the market that they are keeping up in the AI race. As analyst Eric Ross told Business Insider, “It’s the appearance of not falling behind that is important to management.”
Another analyst, Brad Reback, said companies are also acting out of competitive fear. “There’s the fear you’ll get left behind,” he told the publication.
Internally, that pressure is translating into new expectations for workers.
Business Insider reported that some companies are setting explicit targets for how much work should be AI-assisted, while others are encouraging employees to integrate AI into everyday tasks, from writing documents to analysing customer data.
In some cases, companies are even exploring offering AI compute access as part of compensation, effectively turning access to AI tools into a workplace perk, similar to bonuses or stock.
While companies push forward, employees are responding with a mix of compliance and concern.
Business Insider reported that some workers worry that using AI tools could ultimately replace them. One employee affected by layoffs at Block said: “We were laying the foundations for our own replacement.”
At JPMorgan, employees described AI as becoming “an omnipresent part of their day,” while also joking about the long-term impact on their careers. “We all have this degree that’s going to be useless in five years,” one engineer told Business Insider.
There is also a deeper issue of trust.
“Employees don’t trust AI enough yet to turn over parts of their job to it,” Wharton School fellow Scott Snyder told Business Insider, adding that adoption often depends on workers having their own “AI moment” before fully buying in.
This shift marks a turning point in how AI fits into work.
What started as optional experimentation is quickly becoming embedded into how employees are evaluated, promoted, and retained.
Business Insider notes that companies are using a mix of incentives, training, and tracking to drive adoption. But the underlying goal is clear: to turn AI from a tool into infrastructure.
As Mark Zuckerberg put it earlier this year, “2026 is going to be the year that AI starts to dramatically change the way that we work.”
David Adubiina
