A new survey from professional development firm Highwire, covering 1,034 corporate employees, shows how deeply AI has entered the manager-employee feedback loop. According to the survey, 78% of managers said they used AI to help draft, edit, summarize, or inform feedback or a performance review in the last year. Most said it sped up the process. But transparency is lagging: only 16% of non-managerial employees were told AI influenced their review, echoing an Atlassian study that found owning AI use at work can backfire.
The employee experience is mixed. On the positive side, 54% of those surveyed said feedback has become more specific and actionable. But 34% found it more generic, and 32% said it was less useful. The survey also found that nearly 1 in 4 employees now rehearse difficult workplace conversations with an AI tool. Highwire frames this as a response to a vacuum: only 44% of employees said their manager supported them in practicing high-stakes conversations, even though 85% say practice is key. AI is stepping in where managers are absent.
The trend extends beyond feedback. AI video company Synthesia recently launched Sessions, a feature that lets employees practice conversations with an AI avatar and receive coaching assessments. Synthesia says it built the tool after enterprise customers asked for a way to scale managerial coaching without stretching human bandwidth, though it insists Sessions is not a replacement for mentorship. Highwire, which sells human-led professional training, is naturally skeptical of AI rehearsal as a substitute—its own business depends on companies investing in human skills. The source article notes this conflict of interest, and it is worth keeping in mind when weighing Highwire's framing. Still, the underlying data suggests AI is reshaping performance reviews in ways that help some employees while leaving others with blunter, less useful feedback.