American workplaces are seeing a growing presence of artificial intelligence, with a new Gallup Workforce survey showing that around 12 per cent of employed adults use AI every day and about one-quarter engage with it frequently during their work week. Nearly half of respondents report using AI at least a few times each year, a marked shift from earlier stages of adoption as tools such as generative AI, chatbots and analytics assistants become more embedded in professional routines. The data, collected from over 22 000 workers across the United States, paint a picture of accelerating integration coupled with significant variation across roles and sectors. The distribution of AI use in workplaces is far from uniform, with knowledge-based fields such as technology, finance and professional services reporting the highest levels of engagement. In the technology sector, roughly three in ten workers report using AI daily, and six in ten use it at least several times a week. Finance professionals leverage AI for synthesising documents, data sets and managing routine administrative tasks, while employees in higher education and K-12 teaching increasingly turn to AI tools for drafting communications or preparing materials, easing workloads that previously required more manual effort. Workers in sectors such as retail, healthcare and manufacturing lag behind, constrained in part by the nature of their tasks and less compatibility with current AI applications.
Despite this growing usage, a substantial share of workers remains uninvolved or uncertain about their organisation’s AI strategy. About 23 per cent of employees are not sure whether their employer has introduced AI tools, reflecting gaps in communication and formal integration. Many workers report using AI informally on personal devices or without clear guidance from management, highlighting a disconnect between grassroots adoption and structured workplace policy. Support from leadership appears critical, with those reporting strong managerial encouragement more likely to integrate AI tools into their work and perceive them as beneficial to performance.
The operational uses of AI reported by workers cluster around a few key functions. Consolidating information, generating ideas, summarising texts, and searching for data remain the most common applications. Chatbots and virtual assistants dominate as entry points into AI workflows, while specialised tools for data science or coding are still the domain of more frequent users. Workers who engage with AI regularly are also more likely to experiment with advanced tools, but the majority of employees use basic functions that enhance productivity rather than transform job roles outright.
These adoption patterns mirror longitudinal trends tracked by Gallup. Surveys over the past few years show a near doubling of employees reporting occasional AI use since initial measures, and frequent users have grown substantially, though daily use remains a minority behaviour. Some analysts suggest that AI adoption might be reaching a plateau in certain segments after rapid growth, underscoring the challenges organisations face in moving beyond experimentation to deeper integration within business processes.
AI’s uneven spread across the workforce also underscores broader structural divides. Roles that are remote-capable or desk-based are more conducive to adopting digital tools, while frontline and manual jobs present barriers rooted in task requirements or regulatory constraints. Leadership and clear strategic vision play an outsized role in bridging such divides, with organisations that articulate explicit AI plans seeing higher engagement from their staff. Where guidance and training are lacking, employees often resort to self-directed learning, which can reinforce disparities in competence and confidence with AI technologies.
The rise of AI in workplaces carries implications for worker skills and labour dynamics. Research indicates that roles leveraging generative AI tend to emphasise higher cognitive and social skills, shifting employer demand towards competencies that complement machine capabilities. At the same time, groups of workers in administrative and clerical positions face potential disruption without easy pathways to reskilling, given lower levels of formal training and fewer opportunities to transition into roles where AI augments productivity.
Concerns about job displacement are widespread in public discourse, but many workers express confidence that AI will not imminently eliminate their roles. Survey data show that about half of employees do not see AI as likely to replace their jobs in the next five years, though perceptions vary by industry and role type. This sentiment reflects a nuanced understanding of AI as a tool that amplifies human labour rather than an imminent threat, at least in the near term.
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Technology