Investment and returns aren’t the only concerns raised by AI. Why leaders should expect more employee protests and legal actions, among other challenges.

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This is one of Korn Ferry’s Under the Radar trends for 2025. You can read about all these trends here.

1. The Year of the Stealth Payroll Cut
2. Boards in Survival Mode
3. The New Hybrid Hierarchy
4. Equity Compensation: Not Just for Executives

It happened in Hollywood. It happened in Big Tech. It even happened in the shipyards along the Hudson River in New Jersey. And it is going to happen at many more companies, and in many more industries, in the New Year: worker protests over the use of AI.

While Wall Street analysts are focused on the billions of dollars firms are pouring into AI and investors are pressuring leaders to start showing a return, experts say that employee protests are one under-the-radar issue leaders will face more often as they ramp up plans for AI in 2025. “Rising employee activism could lead to more strikes, unionisation efforts, or reputational risk,” says Alan Guarino, a vice chairman in the Board and CEO services practice at Korn Ferry. To be sure, many people see AI not as a new skill to learn, but as a threat to be resisted. But it isn’t just job security and wages that will bring on challenges—geopolitics, sustainability, and DEI are just some of the other areas where employees already have objected, or could soon object, to how AI is deployed, say experts.

Another under-the-radar issue that will impact companies is more class-action lawsuits. “It’s going to be a field day for lawyers,” says Chris Cantarella, global sector leader for the Software practice at Korn Ferry. So far this year, 13 AI-related class-action lawsuits have been filed, an increase of more than 50% from 2023. Among the allegations are everything from copyright infringement to algorithmic discrimination in hiring to misrepresentation of AI’s capabilities. Two factors will expose companies to all sorts of legal challenges, says Cantarella: that these organisations are learning about AI on the go, and that they have a historical tendency to overreach with new technology. “It’s impossible to do a risk audit on AI,” he says. “You can’t see where the bias is until it is found out.”

Leaders and boards are trying to mitigate risk by employing a governance framework around AI use at the enterprise level and guardrails at the employee level. But the reality is that more and more employees are using AI without their managers’ knowledge or the proper training. Cantarella says this “quiet use” of AI is a major problem that could result in privacy and data breaches and other legal and reputational risks unless firms get a handle on it.

While the top-of-mind issues involving AI are around investment, building capabilities, and reskilling talent, these sleeper issues have the potential to disrupt and distract business and stakeholder relationships. Trust between employer and employee is already frayed, and as the use of AI accelerates, the challenge every leader and firm will ultimately face is what to do with productivity and efficiency gains, says Bryan Ackermann, head of AI strategy and transformation at Korn Ferry. Do they lay off more people? Do they reward employees with better work-life balance? Do they adjust roles to reflect the excess capacity AI may soon provide to workers?

How this all plays out depends in large part on how leaders and firms engage workers, address their concerns, and align AI use with purpose and values, says Ackermann. How employees are valued, and how that value is realised, will be among the fundamental leadership issues underscoring AI-driven transformation. “What voice will talent have in their fates?” he asks.

The article was first published by Korn Ferry.

Photo by ZHENYU LUO on Unsplash.