AI in the Workplace Statistics 2026

More than half of U.S. workers (52%) now use AI in their role, with 30% using it frequently (a few times a week or more).

More than half of U.S. workers (52%) now use AI in their role, with 30% using it frequently (a few times a week or more).

Work-related Generative AI adoption reported by individuals in the Real-Time Population Survey stands at about 41 percent as of November, with the strongest growth occurring in the most recent quarter.

23% of employed workers used generative AI for work at least once per week as of late 2024—a remarkable adoption rate for such a nascent technology.

About one-in-six workers (16%) say at least some of their work is currently done with AI.

Most people used them for personal purposes (25.1%), while 15.1% used them for work and 9.4% for formal education.

Over half of employees (55%) report using AI for work or education, compared with around a third (35%) of businesses reporting use of at least one AI technology.

As of May 3, 2026, the AI use rates in the Information (39.7%) and Finance and Insurance (33.9%) sectors were both higher than the national rate (19.8%) but neither reported significant shifts since December.

For example, 37% of firms with at least 250 employees reported using AI in their business operations.

About 42% of businesses in the Information sector and roughly 39% in Finance and Insurance expected to use AI in their business functions over the next six months, higher than the national average but not significantly different from the expected usage rate reported six months earlier.

Additionally, a November iteration of the Survey of Business Uncertainty, which targets senior leaders at U.S. firms, estimates that 78 percent of the labor force works at firms that have adopted AI, and about 54 percent works at firms that use LLMs.

Since September 2023, the proportion of businesses (with 10 or more employees) reporting use of at least one AI technology has increased to just under three times its initial level, rising from around 12% to around 35% of businesses.

AI use varies across industries, with over half of businesses in information and communication (58%) reporting using AI, compared with much lower levels in construction (13%).

As shown in the chart below, 40 percent of service firms reported using AI this year, up from 25 percent this time last year, and 44 percent expect to use AI over the next six months.

It is used (by the respondent or a colleague) in 31% of SMEs, ranging from 24% in Japan to 39% in Germany.

Among AI users, the most common uses of AI are writing and editing (51%), search or research (49%), and general assistance or problem-solving (39%).

More technical or specialized applications are reported less often, including coding assistance and automation, each cited by 16% of AI users.

Among those who’ve used AI chatbots for work, the most common uses are research (57% have used them for this), editing written content (52%) and drafting written content (47%).

A privacy-preserving analysis of more than 100,000 chats in Microsoft 365 Copilot shows that 49% of all conversations support cognitive work—helping workers analyze information, solve problems, evaluate, and think creatively.

By type of AI technology, large language models were the most widely used among businesses (with 10 or more employees) in June 2026 (18%); this is followed by visual content creation (16%), data processing using machine learning (12%), and image processing using machine learning (6%).

Over half of service firms and more than 40 percent of manufacturers that use AI use it to search for information, while 50 to 60 percent of both types of firms use AI for marketing and advertising.

For an individual working 40 hours per week, saving 5.4% of work hours implies a time savings of 2.2 hours per week.

Among workers who used generative AI every day in the previous week, 33.5% said it saved them four hours or more, compared with 11.5% of those who used it only one day in that week.

Using our data on generative AI use, this estimate implies that, on average, workers are 33% more productive in each hour that they use generative AI.

Within organizations implementing AI, 65% of employees say artificial intelligence has improved their productivity and efficiency, regardless of how often they personally use AI.

Among employees who use AI weekly or more in AI-adopting organizations, only 17% give the highest possible rating to AI's impact on their productivity and efficiency.

say AI has allowed them to spend more time on high-value work and 58% say they’re producing work they couldn’t have a year ago.

65% of SMEs using generative AI report that it helped increase employee performance, more than say it enabled them to scale up (35%), to compete with larger companies (29%) or to increase revenue (26%).

While 44% of employees say their organization has begun integrating AI, only 22% say their organization has communicated a clear plan or strategy for doing so.

Similarly, 30% of employees say their organization has either general guidelines or formal policies for using AI at work.

Only one in four AI users surveyed (26%) say their leadership is clearly and consistently aligned on AI.

And only 13% of AI users say they’re rewarded for reinvention of work with AI even if results aren’t met.

Adoption is accelerating: 24% of leaders say their companies have already deployed AI organization-wide, while just 12% remain in pilot mode.

Most SMEs (86%) hold neutral or positive attitudes toward generative AI, while only 2% prohibit its use.

In the United States, 90% of managers indicate that their firms provide at least one algorithmic management tool, while prevalence rates in European countries (France, Germany, Italy, and Spain) range between 76% (Italy) and 81% (France).

Employees who say their manager actively supports their team’s use of AI have an engagement rate of 48%, compared with 30% among employees who do not say this — an 18-point difference.

Only 11% of businesses (with 10 or more employees) reported that more than half of their workforce has received AI‑related training.

Around 62% report training or retraining existing staff to integrate AI skills, compared with around 26% of businesses reporting no barriers.

Among businesses that use AI, just over a third of service firms and 14 percent of manufacturing firms report retraining workers in response to AI.

The most common workforce response to these changes is expected to be upskilling workers, with 77% of employers planning to do so.

The most forward-looking leaders see their critical role: 47% of leaders list upskilling existing employees as a top workforce strategy for the next 12–18 months.

Twice as many SMEs say that generative AI increases skills needs (20%) – i.e. increases the need for highly skilled workers relative to lower-skilled workers – as say that it decreases them (9%).

The Skills Gap The skills gap continues to be the most significant obstacle to business transformation in response to global macrotrends, cited by 63% of employers as a main barrier to future-proofing their operations.

Employment levels in AI-vulnerable occupations are "3.6 percent lower after five years" in regions with high demand for AI skills compared with regions with less demand.

AI-specific effects: "Nearly 40 percent of global jobs" are exposed to AI-driven change.

Globally, one in four workers are in an occupation with some GenAI exposure. 3.3% of global employment falls into the highest exposure category, albeit with significant differences between female (4.7%) and male employment (2.4%).

These differences increase with countries’ income (9.6% female vs 3.5% male in Gradient 4 in HICs), and so does the overall exposure (11% of total employment in LICs vs 34% in HICs).

At 27%, workers’ worry about technology now exceeds that for three of the four traditional job concerns Gallup tracks.

Given that roughly 19% of all workers, as of the first quarter of 2026, say their job is somewhat or very likely to be eliminated by AI, a 6.8-point swing represents a large share of the total.

In our new survey, 71% of adults think AI will lead to fewer jobs in the United States over the next two decades, up from 64% in 2024.

About half of workers (52%) say they’re worried about the future impact of AI use in the workplace, and 32% think it will lead to fewer job opportunities for them in the long run, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

Only 1 percent of service firms reported letting go of workers in response to AI over the past six months, a decrease from 10 percent who said they had laid off workers due to AI in last year’s survey.

Of businesses using AI to improve business operations, 63% reported no change in worker headcount, while 1% reported increased headcount and 6% reported decreased headcount.

However, 41% plan to reduce their workforce as AI automates certain tasks.

Men’s employment grew about 24% more in the most AI-exposed occupations than in the least exposed, while women’s employment growth was about the same across the scale.