The news: Personalized AI is no longer a nice-to-have feature—it’s a driver of adoption that inspires trust in the efficacy of AI solutions.

• 9 in 10 Gen Z and millennial leaders would be more inclined to use AI at work if responses were personalized, per a survey from The Harris Poll commissioned by Google Workspace.
• The same number said workflow-specific genAI outputs would save them time, and 88% said it would make them more productive.
• 89% would be more comfortable sending long emails on their phones if AI could correctly match their personal tone and style.

The survey polled US knowledge workers ages 22 to 39 years old who have—or want to have—a leadership position at work.

Why it matters: Employees’ trust in AI tools teeters between excitement about potential resource savings and skepticism about its capabilities. Challenges to mass adoption include insufficient training and a lack of organizational knowledge about AI’s best use cases.

• 70% of Gen Z employees have taught themselves about most of the AI tools they use at work, per UKG, and 49% think their bosses don’t understand AI’s benefits, which could delay effective organization-wide adoption.
• 24% of employees are sabotaging their company’s AI efforts over fears it will create more work, per a March survey from Writer.

Zooming out: Personalization could be a competitive differentiator for companies looking to scale communications and output efficiently. Several AI firms are hopping on this opportunity.

• OpenAI: It launched customizable personalities with GPT-5.1 that let users choose between direct, concise responses and more creative, imaginative styles.
• Google: Its wealth of first-party data and integrations with Google platforms let Gemini offer specialized recommendations and personalized responses.
• Microsoft: Copilot offers organization-specific frameworks, personalized summaries, and insights pulled from internal documents and communications.

What CMOs should do: Position AI tools to employees as workflow accelerators by emphasizing benefits like better first drafts, data analysis, brand-specific market research, easier on-the-go emailing, and more context-aware automation access teams.

Ensure AI tools on deck can learn style and brand voice and deliver outputs that are aligned with employees’ goals and tasks. Encourage employees to experiment with custom GPTs and Google Gems to develop role-specific tools that can follow workflows across the organization.

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