A new compensation report suggests companies are moving quickly to embed AI into jobs, but not necessarily into pay structures.
In its 2026 Compensation Best Practices Report, Payscale says 30% of organizations are replacing workers with AI or planning to do so in the future.
The report also finds that most companies are already changing job descriptions, but more than half have not adjusted compensation accordingly.
“61% of organizations have updated existing roles to include AI-related skills or competencies. 55% have yet to do anything to adjust compensation for AI skills.”
The data suggests that companies are accelerating adoption on the workforce side while hesitating on salary realignment.
Payscale also says AI is transforming how compensation decisions are made, enabling faster, more data-driven and scalable processes across organizations.
However, trust in AI-driven pay tools remains uneven. According to the report, 57% of organizations say transparency and accuracy are essential for building trust in AI outputs. Another 21% trust only compensation-specific AI tools that include defined methodologies and controls.
The findings come as Payscale says compensation management is being reshaped by multiple pressures at once, including a cooling labor market, shrinking budgets and the accelerating impact of AI.
As companies embed AI into roles and workflows, the gap between skill expectations and pay adjustments may become a defining tension in the next phase of workforce transformation.
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