Most people are using AI at work, whether their bosses know about it or not. Meanwhile, company leaders are simultaneously looking for non-technical talent with AI skills.

A new joint report from LinkedIn and its parent company Microsoft released Wednesday revealed the almost contradictory state of AI at work, as employees discreetly use AI tools and employers seek out candidates with those skills without the majority investing in internal training or tools.

The survey took in responses from 31,000 people across 31 countries between February and March drawing from research that Microsoft conducted with its Fortune 500 customers to add an employer dimension to the survey.

Company leaders showed in the survey that they overwhelmingly favored job candidates with AI skills, even non-technical talent that could use generative AI like ChatGPT.

In the report, 66% of the leaders stated that they would not hire someone who didn’t have AI skills and 71% said that they would probably hire a less experienced candidate with AI skills over a more experienced one without them.

Related: These 4 Words Make It Obvious You Used AI to Write a Paper, According to New Research

Despite employer demand for AI knowledge, lower percentages have provided AI training (39%) or invested in AI tools (45%) for employees.

Regardless of whether employers provide training, more employees than ever have adopted AI tools and are reaping the productivity benefits, even as they fear losing their jobs to the technology.

Three in four knowledge workers, defined in the study as employees who work from a desk, use AI to help get things done at work. The main reason 90% of these respondents reported using AI was to save time.

About half of the group (46%) that use AI recently started using it, within the past six months, and the majority of them (78%) are using AI tools at work “without guidance or clearance from the top.”

At small and medium-sized companies, the percentage of workers taking this “bring your own AI” approach is even higher: 80% of employees use AI discreetly, without a go-ahead from higher-ups.

The trend applies across generations — 73% of boomers and 85% of Gen Z reported using AI tools not provided by their companies.

Related: JPMorgan Says Its AI Cash Flow Software Cut Human Work By Almost 90%

At the same time, about half of the employees (45%) said they were worried that AI could replace their jobs.

Companies, like $7 billion “Buy Now, Pay Later” Klarna, have indicated that AI would pick up the responsibilities of laid-off workers. Klarna stated in February that its AI chatbot “is doing the equivalent work of 700 full-time [customer service] agents.”

The reason why employees are turning to AI tools, despite fears of AI replacing them, could be that they are dealing with higher workloads. The majority surveyed in the report (68%) stated that they find it hard to keep up with the amount of work they have to get done. Nearly half (46%) report feeling burned out.

“The data is clear: People are overwhelmed with digital debt and under duress at work— and they are turning to AI for relief,” the report reads. “The opportunity for every leader is to channel this momentum into ROI.”

Panera’s Charged Lemonade has been under fire from consumers and regulators after lawsuits alleged the highly caffeinated beverage has been the source of long-term health problems and even death.

Now, the chain has decided to phase out the drink as a part of overarching menu changes.

RELATED: ‘100% Should Be Illegal’: Woman Exposes Jaw-Dropping Amount of Caffeine in Panera Lemonade

“We listened to more than 30,000 guests about what they wanted from Panera, and are focusing next on the broad array of beverages we know our guests desire — ranging from exciting, on-trend flavors, to low sugar and low-caffeine options,” a spokesperson for Panera told CNBC.

According to Bloomberg, Panera will begin discontinuing the drink within the next two weeks and replace it with a “broad array of beverages” featuring a blueberry lavender lemonade, a pomegranate hibiscus tea, a citrus punch, and a tropical green smoothie.

The beverage was at the center of three major lawsuits, two of which were filed on behalf of the families of 21-year-old Sarah Katz and 46-year-old Dennis Brown. Both died after allegedly consuming the Charged Lemonade, citing pre-existing medical conditions.

Another lawsuit filed in January claimed that 28-year-old Lauren Skerritt developed long-term heart problems as a result of consuming two and a half of Panera’s Charged Lemoandes.

“You put an innocuous product like lemonade in an innocuous bakery-cafe like Panera, what reasonable consumer is going to be thinking that they’re drinking, essentially, three Red Bulls?” said Skerrit’s lawyer Elizabeth Crawford at the time. “Everything in her life has been altered because of this situation.”

Per Panera’s nutrition information, one large 30 oz. serving of the Charged Lemonade contains 390 mg of caffeine in addition to guarana extract, a natural stimulant.

Related: Panera Sued: Alleged Charged Lemonade-Related Heart Issues

According to the FDA, the maximum amount of caffeine that the average adult can safely consume per day is 400 mg, though the average adult consumes about 135 mg of caffeine daily.

Panera did not immediately respond to Entrepreneur’s request for comment.

Jack Dorsey, co-founder and former CEO of X/Twitter until he resigned in 2021, has left the board of X rival Bluesky, a decentralized social media network he helped create, fund, and promote.

Bluesky started as a small research project within then-Twitter in 2019 and became its own platform in 2022. The company’s goal is to create a common operating standard for social media platforms so that apps can work between them. It works a lot like Twitter, which it was designed to replace.

Dorsey has been on Bluesky’s board since the platform split from Twitter, now X, two years ago, but took to X on Saturday to simply write “no” when asked if he was still on the board.

no

— jack (@jack) May 4, 2024

He also posted and pinned: “Don’t depend on corporations to grant you rights. defend them yourself using freedom technology. (you’re on one)” on the same day, deeming X “freedom technology.”

^{Jack Dorsey. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images}

On Sunday, Bluesky posted an official statement on their site thanking Dorsey “for his help funding and initiating” Bluesky. The company stated it was looking for a new board member “who shares our commitment to building a social network that puts people in control of their experience.”

We sincerely thank Jack for his help funding and initiating the bluesky project. Today, Bluesky is thriving as an open source social network running on atproto, the decentralized protocol we have built.

— Bluesky (@bsky.app) May 5, 2024 at 4:11 PM

Dorsey also reportedly unfollowed over 2,000 people this weekend and weighed in on government surveillance.

Related: Jack Dorsey Blasts Mark Zuckerberg Over Threads Follow Request: ‘Too Soon’

He now follows just three people on X: Elon Musk, Edward Snowden, and Stella Assange.

The seemingly public approval of X is a change of tune for Dorsey, who openly called out Elon Musk’s leadership of X last year.

Dorsey also founded the fintech conglomerate Block, which the Department of Justice is currently investigating after a former employee alleged compliance issues.

Dorsey mainly dismissed the news report at Block’s earnings call last week.

Related: ‘Should Have Walked Away’: Jack Dorsey Says ‘It All Went South’ After Elon Musk Took Over Twitter