Within the supply chain, there’s a clear optimism hovering around artificial intelligence (AI). Even grizzled veterans who have lived through less-than-stellar implementations of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and RFID seem almost giddy about the technology’s potential.
For example, Korhan Acar, a partner at the analyst firm Kearney, has firmly stated that the technology is “for real” and “going to solve a lot of our problems.” Speaking during a panel discussion at last year’s press conference on the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals’ annual “State of Logistics Report,” Acar related that while studying for his master’s degree, he wrote an algorithm to efficiently schedule dock doors at less-than-truckload terminals. According to Acar, it used to take two days to run the algorithm and get results. “Just out of curiosity, I used AI to solve the same problem a couple of months ago, and it took it three seconds,” he said.
Outside the corner office, however, there’s a growing distrust of AI—among workers and among the public at large. Americans in general are skeptical that AI will benefit everyone equally and are worried that it will steal jobs and have a negative effect on society.
These diverging viewpoints can be seen when comparing the “2026 MHI Annual Industry Report,” based on a survey of more than 500 supply chain leaders, with results from a May 2026 poll from YouGov and The Economist, based on a survey of more than 1,500 U.S. adults.
The Annual Industry Report, which is produced by the industry association MHI and the consulting firm Deloitte, found that 61% of respondents believe AI will either transform the supply chain or drive major improvements. For example, nearly a third of respondents have high hopes that AI will enhance demand/inventory optimization, while 30% believe it will improve predictive maintenance/equipment reliability, and 27% hope to use it to automate operational decision-making. In a time when many companies are delaying supply chain tech investments due to an uncertain economic outlook, 65% of surveyed companies are planning to invest in AI. Indeed, 41% say they are using AI today, and another 47% predict they will adopt AI in five years.
Contrast that with the views expressed in the YouGov/Economist survey. A little more than half of respondents said they are pessimistic about the long-term impact of AI on society, while 25% said they were optimistic, and 24% said they were not sure. More than 70% of respondents believe that the pace of AI development is too fast. On top of that, 63% say that it is unlikely that AI will produce economic gains for everyone, and 51% are very worried or somewhat worried that AI will replace jobs.
Clearly, two different stories are being told about AI. The same technology that supply chain leaders see as an enabler for resilience, cost control, and safety is something the public associates with job loss and unfair economic gains. In other words, the people deciding to buy AI are far more optimistic than the people who will have to live with its consequences.
It would be easy to shrug off this difference and say it doesn’t apply to your plans for implementing AI in your fulfillment or logistics operations. But the reality is that your employees and partners don’t leave those headlines at the door; they bring their concerns into your warehouse.
And that means you have to acknowledge and address those concerns or else risk having your implementation fail. To succeed, you need to be explicit about where AI will and will not replace tasks and offer an open and honest assessment of the prospects for job losses or gains. You should also share how productivity gains will be reinvested—whether that’s in increased safety, higher wages, or new opportunities. Employees need to know how the technology will benefit them, not just the company’s bottom line. Most importantly, front-line employees need to have a voice in where and how AI is deployed.
The gap between the two stories about AI isn’t just a media narrative problem—it’s a management problem. If you ignore it, you will pay for it when it comes to adoption, trust, and retention.
