Lark survey finds Southeast Asia’s AI plans are running into workplace tool fatigue

A Lark-commissioned survey across Southeast Asia has found that employers’ AI ambitions are running ahead of employees’ readiness, with fragmented tools, limited training and unclear communication creating friction inside organisations.

The report, The Paradox of Progress, is based on a double-blind survey of 900 employers and more than 5,000 employees across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam. It found that nine in ten employers are building cultures that embrace technological change, but only 15% of organisations describe themselves as digitally mature.

More than half are still in the early stages of AI experimentation, according to the research. That creates a practical problem for companies trying to move faster on automation and AI. Many are adding new tools to workplaces where employees already face tool overload, weak autonomy and uneven support.

Digital investment is missing the employee layer

The report points to a gap between where companies invest in technology and where employees experience work each day.

IT and finance departments are the most likely to be fully digitised, at 69% and 60% respectively. Employee experience and human resources trail at 48% and 47%. Lark’s report frames this as an efficiency-led approach, where companies modernise internal systems before fixing the daily workflows used by staff.

That gap is now affecting productivity. Some 55% of employees said they lose three or more hours each week to digital collaboration inefficiencies. Another 71% said they feel overwhelmed by the number of tools they use, while 54% said they must check multiple platforms every hour to stay in sync.

For businesses preparing to deploy more AI, this is a weak foundation. AI tools may promise faster output, but employees still need clear workflows, fewer fragmented systems and enough training to use automation safely.

Trust remains a barrier to AI adoption

The survey found that the issue is not simple resistance to AI. Employees appear open to using it, with 88% saying they are eager for AI to take over routine tasks. The problem is uncertainty over how AI will be introduced, governed and explained.

Only 22% of employees said their organisation is very transparent about how AI and automation are being deployed. More than half said leadership’s expectations for AI are unclear, while 62% believe AI could eventually make their roles obsolete. Security concerns are also significant, with 76% expressing reservations about wider AI use.

Olivier Adam, General Manager, Asia Pacific at Lark, said the findings should be “a wake-up call” for organisations in the region.

“We are at a pivotal moment for AI adoption across Southeast Asia, but what this research tells us is that the foundation isn’t as solid as leadership believes. Employees are overwhelmed, undertrained and increasingly disconnected from the decisions that shape their working lives. Unless organisations address that gap now, before they layer more AI on top of an already fragmented experience, they risk accelerating the wrong things. Technology is ready. The question is whether people expected to use it feel ready too,” he said.

The report also found that trust in human-led work is not especially strong. Only 52% of employees said they still trust human-generated outputs and decision-making more than AI. That suggests employees are not rejecting AI outright, but want clearer boundaries around what AI should handle, where human judgement remains necessary and who is accountable when automated work goes wrong.

Training gaps could slow workplace adoption

Lark’s research points to training as one of the main constraints. Employers are 17 percentage points more likely than employees to feel very comfortable with AI-enabled tools, and eight percentage points more likely to have received formal AI training.

Employees also identified several areas where they need more support. Cybersecurity awareness ranked highest at 84%, followed by cross-team collaboration training, automation or AI-enabled productivity, and documentation and standard operating procedure discipline, each at 82%.

The report argues that organisations need to simplify their tool environments and involve employees more directly in digital change. It cited companies that consolidated fragmented app ecosystems onto unified platforms, with 89% reporting an immediate efficiency boost, 87% reporting reduced communication friction and 82% reporting substantial cost savings.

That finding also aligns with Lark’s own positioning as an enterprise AI workspace. The broader point for employers is still clear: AI adoption will depend on workplace execution, not just leadership ambition. Companies may be ready to invest in AI, but employees need transparency, training and workable digital systems before those investments can translate into sustained productivity.