As more companies integrate AI into their operations, a new survey suggests there is still a lot of work to do to win the trust of manufacturing professionals.
Commissioned by Rootstock Software, an ERP software company for manufacturers, and conducted by Researchscape, the 2026 State of AI in Manufacturing Survey polled 588 manufacturing professionals at organizations with 100 or more employees across the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.
The results showed varying degrees of perceived progress. More than a quarter of professionals said they are already seeing results from AI integration, followed by 18 percent who said they are still in their initial pilot programs and 13 percent who said they have operational AI but no results.
While these findings suggest AI is becoming more embedded in workplace processes, Rootstock said in a statement that companies must also consider how their employees feel about the technology.
“AI’s potential isn’t only about what the technology can do—it’s also about how well employees are set up to adopt it,” said Rootstock CEO Rick Berger.
Survey respondents expressed cautious optimistim about AI’s impact: 41 percent said they expect AI to make them more productive, while 61 percent said they are somewhat concerned AI could limit their career opportunities.
When asked for the most significant barrier to AI adoption, 44 percent said they are concerned about AI accuracy, its bias and the unpredictability of its outputs. Meanwhile, 36 percent are worried over the difficulty of integrating AI with existing systems and 35 percent said their organizations lack internal expertise.
“Barriers around AI are evolving. In 2024, skills, integration and cost were key hurdles. Today, all three have eased, and the top concern is whether AI’s output can be trusted,” said Ohad Idan, vice president of product at Rootstock.
Regardless of these concerns, AI use in these organizations will continue to grow. According to the survey, 77 percent said their organizations plan to increase budgets or resources for AI-powered tools over the next 12 to 18 months, with planned increases ranging from 10 percent to as much as 50 percent. Most are “somewhat confident” that their organizations can keep up with the pace of AI-driven shifts in the manufacturing industry.
AI use in these organizations varies from agentic to generative and predictive. However, most respondents prefer AI models in which humans retain a considerable degree of control, with the AI either operating under human direction or within defined limits.
Most respondents (88 percent) said they see some value in having a unified AI agent that can work across business applications.
“With AI, manufacturers have the potential to boost productivity and help employees deliver more value in their work, but realizing AI’s full value requires vision, training, and a commitment to keeping human judgment at the center of key processes. The companies that get this right are thinking about workforce development hand in hand with their AI strategy,” Berger said.