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A 2023 Retool survey reported that 51.6% of respondents considered AI overrated. That describes the views of people surveyed at the time—not all tech workers, and not current attitudes in 2026. The same reporting found that surveyed software engineers were using AI tools while many used Stack Overflow less, showing that skepticism and adoption can coexist.
What did the Retool survey find about AI sentiment?
Retool’s 2023 survey, reported by Futurism on November 23, asked people working in tech how they rated AI. Futurism described a group of 1,500 people, including executives, software engineers, designers, and people in other roles across industries. The reported responses were:
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| View of AI | Share of respondents |
|---|---|
| Overrated | 51.6% |
| Underrated | 25.1% |
| Fairly rated | 23.4% |
These are opinions about AI’s level of attention or expectation, not a measurement of AI’s accuracy, usefulness, or productivity impact. The results support saying that a majority of the respondents called AI overrated; they do not establish that AI objectively is overhyped.
Futurism’s November 2023 report provides the figures and broad description of participants. Retool’s State of AI report page describes a broader pool of 1,500+ developers, builders, and business leaders, and says the full report is available through form access.
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Did technical workers and executives agree?
Not uniformly, according to Futurism’s account. Executives were described as more favorable toward AI, while technical-side workers leaned more toward calling it overrated. The accessible reporting does not give exact percentages by role, so the size of that difference cannot be quantified from these sources.
This matters when interpreting the headline: a single overall share can conceal different views among roles. The available figures do not support precise comparisons between engineers, designers, executives, or other groups.
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How could respondents call AI overrated and still use it?
Sentiment and behavior were separate survey findings. Futurism reported that 57.6% of surveyed software engineers said they used Stack Overflow less, and 10.2% said they had stopped using it altogether, as they increasingly turned to ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot.
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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallThose figures are about reported Stack Overflow habits among surveyed software engineers—not the overall sample’s AI sentiment. They suggest that some respondents incorporated AI tools into their work even while many respondents thought AI was overrated. They do not show why Stack Overflow use changed, whether AI tools caused the change, or whether using those tools improved productivity.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the survey can—and cannot—tell us
The survey offers a snapshot of respondents’ views in 2023. Futurism describes 1,500 people working in tech, while Retool’s landing page describes 1,500+ developers, builders, and business leaders. The accessible accounts do not establish the recruitment channel, exact field dates, weighting, response rates, or margin of error. Without those details, the reported percentages should not be treated as a precise estimate for every tech worker or as evidence from a probability sample.
Retool’s 2024 follow-up later characterized the 2023 respondents as viewing AI as slightly overrated. That is useful context, but it does not replace the original survey instrument or supply its full methodology.
So, is AI overrated? The defensible answer is narrower: in Retool’s 2023 survey, a majority of respondents said it was. The findings capture a particular survey’s respondents and time period, alongside reported AI-tool adoption among engineers; they do not settle the broader question for all workers or for today.
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