LEAWOOD, KS – JUNE 23, 2026 – TriCom Technical Services, a leading staffing agency, has shared results from an 11-question survey that aimed to discover how AI is changing IT work in Kansas City. According to a survey of 183 total qualified participants, 56% (n = 103) of IT workers in the KC metro use AI tools daily. However, 145 participants responded to an optional text-box question that asked what the most important thing is that employers need to understand about how AI is affecting IT workers. The vast majority, despite using AI daily, expressed negative sentiments toward it.
69% (n = 100) responded with a negative sentiment toward AI. "Workers are becoming too dependent on AI for thinking," one respondent said. Others expressed that "it is making people lose their skill sets" due to overreliance, and some said they are "terrified" because it is making people in software engineering "live in perpetual fear of losing our careers/livelihoods" and "taking a lot of joy and pride out of our work." Some say that "AI is being forced upon developers for all projects rather than being offered as an option" and emphasize that "people still need the ability to use their brains and think on their own."
Some participants said that AI "makes finding a job more difficult," and that some employers want workers to "forcefully integrate AI" into daily tasks. Additional responses include that AI is "creating laziness" and that "employers have been getting a lot of inaccurate messages about AI, and they should be skeptical."
Others felt that "the rate of change is unsustainable" and that they are ultimately training their future replacements. One respondent said that AI adopters "will be branded a fool by anyone not in a management/leadership position" and that "IT workers are being displaced for a technology that immediately brands any company using it as one that doesn't care about their employees, their product/service, or their reputation." Another said employers "are just chasing a trendy buzzword because they want the same 'shiny new toy' as everyone else," consequently "deskilling workers."
Some participants expressed concerns about "fake expertise," in which users with "little to no real world experience can generate professional sounding summaries with no in-depth knowledge of what it is they are actually saying." Participants also worried that "hype and greed" surrounding the technology means it's "about to get REALLY expensive," despite that it "will NEVER be able to do half the things you think it's doing already."
Meanwhile, 19% (n = 27) responded with a positive sentiment toward AI. "It allows them to write boilerplate code much faster," thereby reducing the "cognitive load," one respondent said. Others described it as a "productivity accelerator" and that it can be used to "produce results much more quickly" and "allows an employee to be more efficient." One participant said that "AI is a silver bullet to solve all problems" and that it "should be used to help employers be more productive" but that "the value generated very much needs to be given back to the employee."
Others who expressed mostly positive views still felt reluctant about certain aspects. "If you force it, it will be awful," one respondent said, but "people will use it to boost their own efficiency" if employers "let workers work as needed with AI" and that "it will be smoother than mandating anything." Another participant said that IT workers should "learn how to use it to augment their abilities, not solely depend on it."
The main way that people in IT use AI at work is for coding and debugging, according to 27% (n = 50) of respondents. Other popular use cases include research or summarizing (19%, n = 34); writing or editing (10%, n = 19); and documentation or project planning (8%, n = 14).
37% (n = 67) felt that AI had somewhat improved productivity at work, 34% (n = 63) said that it had significantly improved productivity, and the remainder felt that it had improved productivity minimally, not at all, made their work more difficult, or do not use AI tools.
In terms of how AI is changing expectations in IT roles, 37% (n = 68) said expectations have not changed much. Meanwhile, 24% (n = 43) said that they are now expected to produce more in the same amount of time.
When it comes to concerns surrounding AI in the workplace, 28% (n = 51) of KC IT workers said their bigget concern was accuracy or low-quality output, followed by overreliance on AI (24%, n = 43), job displacement (17%, n = 31), and data privacy or confidential information (15%, n = 27).
We also asked participants how they expect AI to affect their tech careers over the next three years. 26% (n = 47) said that it will make them more productive but raise expectations, 22% (n = 40) said it will require them to update their skills, and 21% (n = 38) said it will create more opportunity for them.
The survey ran from May 27 through June 22, and respondents were collated using TriCom’s internal database and filtered based on Kansas City metropolitan area zip codes. Respondents were also invited to participate through a URL shared via email. The first page of the survey included a disclaimer that the survey was intended only for IT workers who are connected to the KC metro. The first question disqualified anyone who was not connected to the KC area.
Other relevant figures: 57% (n = 104) of respondents are senior individual contributors (9+ years) at their companies, and 27% (n = 49) of the respondents' companies have more than 5,000 employees. 31% (n = 57) work in software engineering or application development. 30% (n = 55) live in the KC area but work remotely for an employer based elsewhere.
“As artificial intelligence increasingly shapes today’s discourse, organizations have a responsibility to proactively articulate a clear vision for their most valuable resource: their people," said Matt Sharples, CEO of TriCom. " Given the considerable uncertainty surrounding what lies ahead, it is essential that AI policies and processes be grounded, first and foremost, in the ethical treatment of individual employees and client customers."
About TriCom Technical Services
TriCom Technical Services is a best-in-class IT staffing firm that connects top technical professionals with high-performing companies. Using a comprehensive, high-touch approach, the TriCom team provides measurable results that outperform competitors locally and nationally. TriCom has won the Client and Talent awards for ClearlyRated’s Best of Staffing for 14 years in a row, continuously finding new ways to provide clients and candidates with a partnership that empowers their goals.
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