Special Questions

Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey

Data were collected May 12–20, and 74 Texas manufacturers responded to the survey.

NOTES: 74 responses.

NOTES: 40 responses. This question was only posed to those currently using AI.

NOTES: 40 responses. This question was only posed to those currently using AI. We asked a similar question in Dec. '25, May '25, and April '24.

NOTES: 54 responses. This question was only posed to those currently using AI or planning to do so in the next 12 months.

NOTES: 40 responses. This question was only posed to those currently using AI.

NOTES: 40 responses. This question was only posed to those currently using AI.

The following prompt was given to those who currently use AI and indicated a decrease in the need for workers or change in the type of workers needed in question 3.

Printing and related support activities

• Some art and some communication work.

Plastics and Rubber Products Manufacturing

• Order processing, accounts payable, engineering.

The following prompt was given to those who currently use AI and indicated an increase in the need for workers or change in the type of workers needed in question 3.

Fabricated metal product manufacturing

• Financial summaries such as MD&A (management discussion and analysis) writeups.

Survey respondents were given the opportunity to also provide comments, which can be found in the Comments tab above.

Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey

Data were collected May 12–20, and 239 Texas business executives responded to the survey.

NOTES: 237 responses.

NOTES: 163 responses. This question was only posed to those currently using AI.

NOTES: 163 responses. This question was only posed to those currently using AI. We asked a similar question in Dec. '25, May '25, and April '24.

NOTES: 203 responses. This question was only posed to those currently using AI or planning to do so in the next 12 months.

NOTES: 163 responses. This question was only posed to those currently using AI.

NOTES: 164 responses. This question was only posed to those currently using AI.

The following prompt was given to those who currently use AI and indicated a decrease in the need for workers or change in the type of workers needed in question 3.

Motor vehicle and parts dealers

• Marketing, planning.
• Automated customer follow-up for sales and service in business development centers.

Publishing industries (except internet)

• Initial coding use and larger plans to use in code and application development and testing.

Securities, commodity Contracts, and other financial investments and related activities

• Graphics designers, coders, mid-level managers. Processes that are redundant or repetitive, reminders, outreach tasks.

Professional, scientific and technical services

• Lower-level contract review, summarizing lengthy but somewhat formulaic documents.
• Coding, contract reviews, prototype design, negotiation, human resources.
• We have developed and deployed an AI agent for customer support and success tasks across our digital platform. AI (Codex and Claude Code) are used to support code generation and code review within our development team. AI tools are also used for legal and due diligence tasks on the commercial side.
• Software development and testing, contract creation and reviews, project documentation, project management, document creation, marketing material development.
• Research, modeling, process execution, analysis of media buys.
• We have used AI to accompany product and program development and are beginning to look at AI to assist with some tech build-out needs. Tech is not replacing any jobs or people in our company; it is assisting with moving projects along as task assistant.
• Database performance tuning, analyzing software code bases (static code analysis), supporting programming tasks, contract and deliverables analysis, requirements analysis and initial generation of marketing content for humans to edit and publish.

Food services and drinking places

• Accounts payable entry.

The following prompt was given to those who currently use AI and indicated an increase in the need for workers or change in the type of workers needed in question 3.

Professional, scientific and technical services

• The need for software support people due to AI use in more software sales and customer satisfaction.
• We use it for research in RFPs (requests for proposals) and bids.

Survey respondents were given the opportunity to also provide comments, which can be found in the Comments tab above.

Special Questions Comments

Survey participants are given the opportunity to submit comments. Some comments have been edited for grammar and clarity.

• So far, we have not found big ways of implementing artificial intelligence (AI). I use it for help in writing sometimes if I am looking for ideas.

• We just use it to review bids and assist in response.
• We have used AI to automate a specific data checking and organizing task for quality improvement and streamlining of that process. Our senior software engineer uses it for very specific tasks in coding (repetitious, incremental tasks) but will not use it for full-scale coding. We do not intend to use AI tools for any other purpose.
• We are barely dipping our toe into the water using AI for some simple administrative tasks, like writing job ads and job descriptions. We don't have any concrete plans to use it more broadly yet, although we certainly will as the technology matures.

• It has been great for formatting theoretical scenarios and plausible outcomes.
• I am using Claude for many parts of my business, but mostly financial outlooks, sales and marketing, and training.
• We have started using robots.

• AI use is a work in progress.
• AI is invigorating for our team. Most of us in leadership roles are energized by the new tools, attempting to learn how best to incorporate them into our daily work, and begin to once again think outside the box of all that is now so easily accessible. It's actually fun!  We're trying to learn how to ask better, smarter questions.
• AI is mostly hype but is still useful. This is the golden age of AI before it becomes contaminated with its own vomit. Ultimately, any electricity shortages caused by AI data centers will not be justified.

• We have begun mandating that department heads incorporate AI in a limited capacity, allowing them to test outcomes and evaluate its practical value within their processes and departments. This is accompanied by weekly AI training sessions covering foundational topics—what AI is, how to use it appropriately and its intended purpose as a productivity tool, not a replacement for our people. We anticipate rolling out AI usage to all employees, with the exception of production staff, by end of year.

• Employee retention continues to be a challenge within production-related roles. All candidates are informed during the hiring process about the demands of the position, including overtime requirements and seasonal working conditions, particularly during the summer months. Retention challenges tend to be more common among employees who are newer to the workforce or in younger-age demographics. At this time, the use of AI tools is optional and not a requirement. Some employees currently utilize AI to assist with tasks such as improving the professionalism of the correspondence with customers or suppliers and performing document comparisons. Longer term, there are plans to create an AI-assisted process for assembling document packets. The project is slated for late 2026 or early 2027.

• We are in the infant stage of using AI as a corporation and testing several for security, accuracy, etc.

• We are not sure how AI can help our business, so at this time we are not planning to do more than try to keep up with how it could benefit us.

• AI use can be happening through suppliers and retailers but not directed by us.

• We are using AI for commissioned employees.

• A lot of utilized AI is through our venders, and employees are just beginning to realize that fact. The big problem in developing your own AI models is expertise and cost to properly utilize. The other issue as with ChatGPT is the exposure created by entering the worldwide network without proper security. This is a big problem, like a child's unauthorized use of a dangerous weapon.
• We expect AI will make our current employees more efficient and accurate in their work. We do not have any current plans to downsize [headcount] because of AI.

• We use AI currently mainly as a research tool. It hasn't replaced employees yet.

• We use AI to plan the day—with the right people and staffing levels to achieve efficiencies by predicting what and how many of certain products need to be ready every 15 minutes. We also plan to use AI in our drive through and online ordering system to reduce fiction points and reduce missed orders.
• We use Gemini for marketing guidance and writing ad scripts.
• We began implementing AI using ChatGPT Enterprise about 18 months ago. Our team is becoming more adept and skilled at creating prompts and utilizing AI to enhance efficiencies and perform analysis that formerly required quite a bit more time and effort. In our view, AI is another very valuable tool to be leveraged and utilized to improve our business, to identify and take advantage of opportunities, and to generally make us better at our jobs. At this point, we don't actually see it replacing any of our staff members, per se. It just enhances our work and our work product.

• We are using AI to analyze last year's insurance policy rates and forms compared to new 2026 rates and forms.

• Our use of AI in our core business processes is still in its infancy, so the impact is difficult to judge. However, we anticipate it will have a positive impact on our ability to improve service to our customer base. Additionally, our strategy is to improve employee productivity so that as we grow, we will not need to add staff as quickly. We do not see AI as a replacement for staff.

• Right now, we're using AI to tackle one-off projects that normally we might hire outside professionals to define and implement solutions. Long term, I don't believe it will materially impact our current staffing levels, but it might delay adding workers, because we can grow our capacity with the current staffing levels.
• We are looking at AI but no plans as of yet.

• We are still learning to use AI, but we see tremendous opportunities in marketing and advertising.
• We are spending lots of time researching AI. We will not know the significance of its impact for some time.

• AI is speeding up routine tasks and helping to improve writing, but not to the point of reducing the need for staff. Further, it has also led to some inappropriate shortcuts that are requiring more supervision.
• We are a service-based industry that will require in-person presence that AI cannot eliminate; however, we will see improvements in the administrative aspect of our work through the use of AI.

• We are using AI because it is now starting to be integrated into our point-of-sale system.

• AI use is still minimal and sporadic for us. Our employees use it primarily for preliminary topical research assistance.
• AI will significantly decrease demand for first-year to mid-career associates in large law firms fairly quickly (within two years).
• Some tasks, such as preparing documentation, have benefited from the use of AI. However, these gains in efficiency are somewhat offset by the learning curve, security oversight and investment in AI tools. The other unanticipated impact is that AI reporting and documentation seem to create more voluminous products that require more time to consume.
• In our programming business, we are able to get things done a lot faster. Also, we are able to offer our project services to our customers at lower rates. Most already expect a lesser rate due to using AI on their programming projects.
• Right now we are mostly using AI to help our employees find our in-house documentation. The primary benefit we are getting is when onboarding new employees.
• AI is benefiting smaller and medium companies like us more, as AI generally is very inexpensive to use but our productivity is increasing a lot. Thus we can hire more people in coming months, as our sales and profits are increasing. AI will generate more employment overall, despite job losses in the short term.
• Over time, early adopters of AI will have an advantage that will likely translate into more productivity and higher pay.
• People underestimate technology in the long term and overestimate it in the short term. They did this with the internet, and they are also doing it with AI.
• We use Claude to help with writing. We use a recruiting-specific platform for our interviews and client submissions that integrates with our applicant tracking system.  And we use an AI platform that helps with the sourcing process.
• It's too early for us, yet, to measure AI impacts on our business.

• Other broader uses of AI with larger data files are good potential late this year and going forward.

• We will use AI for marketing.
• We're not doing any heavy lifting with AI. Mostly, employees are using it to help write emails, create marketing materials and prepare reports. It makes them a bit more efficient, but mostly it improves the quality of their output. The downside is it all starts to sound pretty similar and bland after the novelty wears off. No doubt we will eventually use it for accounting, financial analysis and other higher-level functions, but we're not in a rush. We expect our software vendors will figure this part out. What we will never do is use AI to take the place of human customer service. Already, we are seeing negative effects at our competitors who think bots should be dealing with residents.
• If anything, AI is solidifying the need for talented, highly skilled white-collar professionals who know how to develop, mentor and maintain strong working relationships with colleagues and clients.

• AI is a wonderful tool but must be utilized judiciously. Also, what it produces must be checked thoroughly because AI can (and does) make mistakes.

• Another question to ask would be, “Has AI use led to job security among employees who use it relative to employees who do not use AI?” The answer is yes.

• It is still in early days, though we are working on more intensive AI use cases for 2026 and beyond.