Inside the push to make workers trust and use AI

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Earlier this year, email marketing service provider Omnisend launched a salary-bump initiative to reward employees who meaningfully adopt AI and use it in ways that demonstrate significant business value.

“We don’t want to fire anyone to replace with AI,” said Rytis Lauris, the company’s CEO and co-founder.

Under the program, two finance specialists at Omnisend used vibe coding, first with OpenAI models and then later with Anthropic Claude, to build an AI agent that would take on many traditionally human jobs. The agent scans monthly financial transactions, maps transactions to invoices, identifies missing invoices and receipts, determines which employee’s credit card was used and reports collection status to the finance team.

With the AI agent, the finance team automated 85% of the invoice collection process.

“It saves tons of hours every month,” Lauris said.

Omnisend’s project is one example of how businesses are pushing employees to use generative AI and trying to erode some of the fears associated with the technology.

Even so, many employees fear AI could soon displace workers or become a tool for employers to monitor and discipline their staff. Employee concerns like these have led to the enactment of new state laws governing the use of AI in the workplace.

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Sept. 30 signed a bill into law prohibiting employers in the state from using AI as the sole basis for firing or disciplining an employee. The law requires employers to validate or corroborate an AI system's recommendation before disciplining or firing someone. Newsom also approved a law requiring organizations to disclose when their use of AI results in mass layoffs, relocations or business closures. The law amends the Cal-WARN Act, which requires companies to provide 60 days’ notice before a mass layoff. With the new law, companies must write: “This notice is for a technology displacement” at the top of their disclosure.