AI at Work Statistics 2026
This page collects figures on generative AI in the workplace: how many workers use it and how often, which jobs use it most, what tasks it handles, how much time it saves, how many employers have adopted it, and what training and policies exist. Most figures cover the United States, with comparison points from the EU and the UK and usage data published by Anthropic and OpenAI. Data are mostly from 2025 and 2026; a few 2024 survey results are included where they remain the latest of their kind, and each is labeled with its year.
By the KeenVerdict research desk · Updated November 6, 2026 · 52 figures from 22 sources
The short answer
About 56% of U.S. workers have used AI for at least one work task, according to the Census Bureau's March 2026 household survey, and 38% of employed adults use chatbots for tasks at work, per Pew Research Center. Among Census respondents who used AI in the prior week, 31% said it saved them one to two hours, yet Gallup found only 22% of employees say their organization has a clear AI plan.
Key figures
- 56%56% of U.S. workers said they had used AI on the job for at least one of 11 work tasks in the Census Bureau's March 2026 Household Trends and Outlook Pulse Survey.U.S. Census Bureau
- 26%26% of U.S. employees used AI at work a few times a week or more in the fourth quarter of 2025, up three points from the prior quarter, according to Gallup.Gallup
- 77%77% of U.S. employees in technology used AI at work in the fourth quarter of 2025, including 31% who used it daily, the highest of any industry in Gallup's data.Gallup
- 37%37% of U.S. workers used AI at work to search for information or technical help in March 2026, the most common of 11 tasks in the Census Bureau's survey.U.S. Census Bureau
- 31%31% of U.S. workers who used AI in the prior week said it saved them one to two hours, per the Census Bureau's March 2026 survey; a quarter said it saved less than an hour.U.S. Census Bureau
- 1.6%Generative AI time savings equaled 1.6% of all U.S. work hours in 2025 when nonusers are included, according to the St. Louis Fed.Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
- 19.8%19.8% of U.S. businesses used AI as of early May 2026, according to the Census Bureau's Business Trends and Outlook Survey, with higher rates in information (39.7%) and finance and insurance (33.9%).U.S. Census Bureau
- 22%44% of U.S. employees said their organization had begun integrating AI in 2025, but only 22% said it had communicated a clear plan or strategy, per Gallup.Gallup
Our reading of the data
Most U.S. workers have now tried AI at work, but regular use is still a minority habit. The Census Bureau found 56% of workers had used AI for at least one of 11 work tasks in March 2026, and Pew Research Center puts chatbot use for work tasks at 38% of employed adults. Gallup's narrower measure of frequent use, a few times a week or more, was 26% at the end of 2025, with daily use at 12%.
Use is concentrated in office jobs. Gallup reports total AI use of 77% in technology but 33% in retail, and 69% of leaders use AI compared with 40% of individual contributors. The Federal Reserve Board found 43% of workers with a graduate degree used generative AI in the prior month, against 10% of those with a high school degree or less. OpenAI's usage paper shows the same education gradient inside ChatGPT, where the work share of messages rises with schooling.
Reported time savings are real but modest at the level of the whole economy. Among Census respondents who used AI in the prior week, 31% saved one to two hours and 15% saved more than four hours, while 10% saved nothing. The St. Louis Fed estimates the savings equal 1.6% of all U.S. work hours once nonusers are counted. OpenAI's enterprise customers report 40 to 60 minutes saved per day, a figure drawn from paying business users rather than the general workforce.
Employer support has not kept pace with worker use. Gallup found 44% of employees say their organization has begun integrating AI, but only 22% say it has shared a clear plan and 30% report guidelines or formal policies. SHRM found about half of organizations using AI have a workforce AI policy. Business adoption figures are lower than worker figures: the Census Bureau's business survey shows about 20% of U.S. firms using AI, and Eurostat found 55% of large EU enterprises but only 17% of small ones did in 2025.
How many workers use AI
- 1.
56% of U.S. workers said they had used AI on the job for at least one of 11 work tasks in the Census Bureau's March 2026 Household Trends and Outlook Pulse Survey.
U.S. Census Bureau, About a Third of Workers Who Used AI in the Last Week Said They Completed Tasks One to Two Hours Faster (Aug 2026)
Source quote
About 56% of U.S. workers said they have used Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the job for at least one of 11 tasks asked about on the U.S. Census Bureau’s March 2026 Household Trends and Outlook Pulse Survey (HTOPS).
- 2.
38% of employed U.S. adults said they use AI chatbots for tasks at work in Pew Research Center's 2026 survey.
Pew Research Center, Americans and AI 2026: Chatbots, Smart Devices and Views on Impact (Jun 2026)
Source quote
38% of employed adults report using chatbots for tasks at work.
- 3.
26% of U.S. employees used AI at work a few times a week or more in the fourth quarter of 2025, up three points from the prior quarter, according to Gallup.
Gallup, Frequent Use of AI in the Workplace Continued to Rise in Q4 (Jan 2026)
Source quote
Frequent use, defined as using AI at work at least a few times a week, has also inched up three percentage points to 26%.
- 4.
12% of U.S. employees used AI at work daily in the fourth quarter of 2025, up from 10% the quarter before, per Gallup.
Gallup, Frequent Use of AI in the Workplace Continued to Rise in Q4 (Jan 2026)
Source quote
The proportion of employees using AI daily has risen from 10% to 12%.
- 5.
Work use of generative AI among U.S. adults ages 18 to 64 rose from 33.3% to 37.4% in the year to August 2025, according to the St. Louis Fed's Real-Time Population Survey.
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, The State of Generative AI Adoption in 2025 (Nov 2025)
Source quote
In the last 12 months, work adoption increased from 33.3% to 37.4%.
- 6.
25% of U.S. workers said they used generative AI in their job in the prior month, while 44% agreed it would save time in their job, in the Federal Reserve Board's 2025 household survey.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2025 (May 2026)
Source quote
The 44 percent who agree that generative AI saves time is higher than the 25 percent of workers who said they used AI in their job in the prior month.
- 7.
In Pew's October 2024 survey, 16% of U.S. workers said at least some of their work was done with AI.
Pew Research Center, U.S. Workers Are More Worried Than Hopeful About Future AI Use in the Workplace (Feb 2025)
Source quote
About one-in-six workers (16%) say at least some of their work is currently done with AI.
Which workers use AI most
- 8.
77% of U.S. employees in technology used AI at work in the fourth quarter of 2025, including 31% who used it daily, the highest of any industry in Gallup's data.
Gallup, Frequent Use of AI in the Workplace Continued to Rise in Q4 (Jan 2026)
Source quote
Technology shows the highest use, with total AI use at 77%, including 57% frequent users and 31% daily users.
- 9.
Retail had the lowest AI use of the industries Gallup tracked in late 2025, at 33% of employees.
Gallup, Frequent Use of AI in the Workplace Continued to Rise in Q4 (Jan 2026)
Source quote
Retail reports the lowest adoption, with total AI use at 33%, including 19% frequent users and 10% daily users.
- 10.
69% of U.S. leaders used AI at work at least a few times a year in late 2025, compared with 40% of individual contributors, per Gallup.
Gallup, Frequent Use of AI in the Workplace Continued to Rise in Q4 (Jan 2026)
Source quote
In Q4, 69% of leaders said they use AI at least a few times a year, compared with 55% of managers and 40% of individual contributors.
- 11.
75% of U.S. workers with a bachelor's degree who use AI at work used it on at least one day in the prior week in March 2026, compared with 59% of those with a high school diploma or less.
U.S. Census Bureau, About a Third of Workers Who Used AI in the Last Week Said They Completed Tasks One to Two Hours Faster (Aug 2026)
Source quote
Asked how often they used AI at work last week, 75% of those with a bachelor’s degree or higher said at least one day, compared with 62% with some college or an associate’s degree and 59% with a high school diploma/equivalency or less.
- 12.
43% of U.S. workers with a graduate degree used generative AI in the prior month in 2025, compared with 10% of workers with a high school degree or less, per the Federal Reserve Board.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2025 (May 2026)
Source quote
For example, 43 percent of workers with a graduate degree used AI in the prior month, compared with 10 percent of workers with a high school degree or less who used generative AI.
- 13.
48% of ChatGPT consumer messages from users with some graduate education were work-related in 2025, compared with 37% for users without a bachelor's degree, according to an NBER study by OpenAI and Harvard researchers.
National Bureau of Economic Research, How People Use ChatGPT (Working Paper 34255) (Sep 2025)
Source quote
37% of messages are work-related for users with less than a bachelor’s degree, compared to 46% for users with exactly a bachelor’s degree and 48% for those with some graduate education.
Chart
U.S. employees who use AI at work, by role
Share of employed U.S. adults using AI at work at least a few times a year, Gallup, fourth quarter of 2025.
- Leaders69%
- Managers55%
- Individual contributors40%
Source: Gallup, Frequent Use of AI in the Workplace Continued to Rise in Q4
What workers use AI for
- 14.
37% of U.S. workers used AI at work to search for information or technical help in March 2026, the most common of 11 tasks in the Census Bureau's survey.
U.S. Census Bureau, About a Third of Workers Who Used AI in the Last Week Said They Completed Tasks One to Two Hours Faster (Aug 2026)
Source quote
The top five ways people said they’ve used AI at work: 37% said to search for information or technical help.
- 15.
Writing made up about 40% of work-related ChatGPT consumer messages in July 2025, the most common topic at work.
National Bureau of Economic Research, How People Use ChatGPT (Working Paper 34255) (Sep 2025)
Source quote
About 40% of all work-related messages in July 2025 are Writing, by far the most common Conversation Topic.
- 16.
Messages not related to work rose from 53% to 73% of consumer ChatGPT messages between June 2024 and June 2025, so work is a shrinking share of total use.
National Bureau of Economic Research, How People Use ChatGPT (Working Paper 34255) (Sep 2025)
Source quote
53% of messages were not related to work in June 2024, which climbed to 73% by June 2025.
- 17.
About 56% of work-related ChatGPT messages in 2025 asked the model to do a task, compared with 35% that asked for information or advice.
National Bureau of Economic Research, How People Use ChatGPT (Working Paper 34255) (Sep 2025)
Source quote
Doing constitutes nearly 56% of work-related queries, compared to 35% for Asking and 9% for Expressing.
- 18.
Documents and reports were the most common output of work conversations on Claude in Anthropic's 2026 analysis, at 20%, followed by explanations and email drafts.
Anthropic, Anthropic Economic Index report: Cadences (Jun 2026)
Source quote
Work conversations most often produce documents and reports (20%), followed by explanations (9%), email drafts (7%), and analyses and summaries (6%).
- 19.
82% of Claude conversations that wrote database queries were classified as work-related in 2026, along with 80% of those creating marketing content.
Anthropic, Anthropic Economic Index report: Cadences (Jun 2026)
Source quote
Categories most likely to be work-related include creating marketing content (80%), creating blogs or articles (81%), and writing database queries (82%).
- 20.
Coding accounted for 36% of Claude.ai usage in Anthropic's 2025 sample, the largest single category.
Anthropic, Anthropic Economic Index report: Uneven geographic and enterprise AI adoption (Sep 2025)
Source quote
While the use of Claude for coding continues to dominate our total sample at 36%, educational tasks surged from 9.3% to 12.4%, and scientific tasks from 6.3% to 7.2%.
- 21.
77% of business use of Claude through Anthropic's API followed automation patterns in 2025, compared with about 50% for Claude.ai users.
Anthropic, Anthropic Economic Index report: Uneven geographic and enterprise AI adoption (Sep 2025)
Source quote
1P API usage is automation dominant: 77% of business uses involve automation usage patterns, compared to about 50% for Claude.ai users.
Chart
Most common ways U.S. workers use AI at work
Share of U.S. workers, Census Bureau Household Trends and Outlook Pulse Survey, March 2026.
- Search for information or technical help37%
- Write communications or documentation32%
- Generate ideas32%
- Interpret, translate or summarize31%
- Administrative tasks27%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, About a Third of Workers Who Used AI in the Last Week Said They Completed Tasks One to Two Hours Faster
Time saved and productivity
- 22.
31% of U.S. workers who used AI in the prior week said it saved them one to two hours, per the Census Bureau's March 2026 survey; a quarter said it saved less than an hour.
U.S. Census Bureau, About a Third of Workers Who Used AI in the Last Week Said They Completed Tasks One to Two Hours Faster (Aug 2026)
Source quote
A quarter said AI saved them less than an hour and 31% said AI saved them one to two hours.
- 23.
15% of recent AI users at work said it saved three to four hours in the prior week and another 15% said more than four hours, in March 2026.
U.S. Census Bureau, About a Third of Workers Who Used AI in the Last Week Said They Completed Tasks One to Two Hours Faster (Aug 2026)
Source quote
A smaller share (15%) reported AI cut their workload by three to four hours and another 15% said by more than four hours.
- 24.
10% of U.S. workers who used AI in the prior week said it saved no time, and 4% said it added time to their work, in March 2026.
U.S. Census Bureau, About a Third of Workers Who Used AI in the Last Week Said They Completed Tasks One to Two Hours Faster (Aug 2026)
Source quote
Some (10%) said AI didn’t save any time and 4% reported using AI required additional time to complete their work.
- 25.
Generative AI time savings equaled 1.6% of all U.S. work hours in 2025 when nonusers are included, according to the St. Louis Fed.
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, The State of Generative AI Adoption in 2025 (Nov 2025)
Source quote
Factoring in all workers, including nonusers, workers report generative AI time savings equivalent to 1.6% of all work hours.
- 26.
Generative AI users saved an average of 5.4% of their work hours in November 2024, about 2.2 hours a week for someone working 40 hours, per the St. Louis Fed.
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, The Impact of Generative AI on Work Productivity (Feb 2025)
Source quote
For an individual working 40 hours per week, saving 5.4% of work hours implies a time savings of 2.2 hours per week.
- 27.
52% of U.S. workers who used generative AI agreed it improved the quality of their work in 2025, and 81% agreed it saves them time, per the Federal Reserve Board.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2025 (May 2026)
Source quote
Eighty-one percent of people who had used generative AI agreed that using it saves them time, and small majorities of users also agreed that it improved quality (52 percent) and that it enables new tasks (55 percent).
- 28.
Workers at OpenAI's enterprise customers reported saving 40 to 60 minutes a day with AI in 2025, with heavy users reporting more than 10 hours a week.
OpenAI, The state of enterprise AI (Dec 2025)
Source quote
Workers report saving 40-60 minutes per day, with heavy users reporting more than 10 hours per week.
- 29.
86% of surveyed Claude users reported faster work from AI in 2026, 82% reported a wider scope of work and 69% reported higher quality.
Anthropic, Anthropic Economic Index report: Cadences (Jun 2026)
Source quote
large majorities of people report productivity gains in speed, scope, and quality of their work (86%, 82%, and 69%, respectively), while 27% report gains through cost savings on services they would otherwise have to purchase.
- 30.
24% of U.S. employees who use AI weekly or more reported strong productivity gains in 2026, compared with 5% of less frequent users, according to Gallup.
Gallup, Employee Engagement Remains Flat as AI Adoption Accelerates (Jul 2026)
Source quote
Employees who use AI weekly or more are far more likely to report strong productivity gains than those who use it less frequently: 24% versus 5%.
Chart
Weekly hours saved by U.S. generative AI users
Share of U.S. workers who used generative AI in the prior week, Real-Time Population Survey, November 2024.
- 1 hour or less33%
- 2 hours26.4%
- 3 hours20.1%
- 4 hours or more20.5%
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, The Impact of Generative AI on Work Productivity
Employer and business adoption
- 31.
19.8% of U.S. businesses used AI as of early May 2026, according to the Census Bureau's Business Trends and Outlook Survey, with higher rates in information (39.7%) and finance and insurance (33.9%).
U.S. Census Bureau, AI Use at U.S. Businesses: Large Firms With at Least 20 Employees Biggest AI Users (May 2026)
Source quote
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.
- 32.
37% of U.S. firms with at least 250 employees used AI in their business operations in spring 2026, per the Census Bureau.
U.S. Census Bureau, AI Use at U.S. Businesses: Large Firms With at Least 20 Employees Biggest AI Users (May 2026)
Source quote
For example, 37% of firms with at least 250 employees reported using AI in their business operations.
- 33.
55.03% of large EU enterprises used AI in 2025, compared with 30.36% of medium and 17% of small enterprises, according to Eurostat.
Eurostat, Use of artificial intelligence in enterprises (Dec 2025)
Source quote
In 2025, 17% of small enterprises, 30.36% of medium enterprises and 55.03% of large enterprises used AI.
- 34.
34.70% of EU enterprises using AI in 2025 applied it to marketing or sales, the most common purpose, and 31.05% to business administration.
Eurostat, Use of artificial intelligence in enterprises (Dec 2025)
Source quote
In 2025, 34.70% of enterprises using AI technologies used these software or systems for marketing or sales and 31.05% for the organisation of business administration processes or management.
- 35.
15.1% of people in the EU ages 16 to 74 used generative AI tools for work in 2025, compared with 25.1% for personal purposes, per Eurostat.
Eurostat, 32.7% of EU people used generative AI tools in 2025 (Dec 2025)
Source quote
Most people used them for personal purposes (25.1%), while 15.1% used them for work and 9.4% for formal education.
- 36.
32% of UK businesses used at least one AI technology in 2026, double the 16% recorded in 2025, according to the UK government's AI adoption survey.
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, AI adoption survey report 2026: executive summary (Oct 2026)
Source quote
In 2026, one-third of UK businesses were using at least one AI technology (32% compared to 16% in 2025).
- 37.
24% of business leaders in Microsoft's 2025 global survey said their company had deployed AI organization-wide, while 12% were still piloting.
Microsoft, 2025: The Year the Frontier Firm Is Born (Work Trend Index) (Apr 2025)
Source quote
Adoption is accelerating: 24% of leaders say their companies have already deployed AI organization-wide, while just 12% remain in pilot mode.
- 38.
88% of organizations in surveys compiled by the Stanford AI Index used AI in 2025, though use of AI agents remained early.
Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, The 2026 AI Index Report: Economy (Apr 2026)
Source quote
Organizational AI adoption continued to rise in 2025, up to 88% of surveyed organizations, though AI agent use remains early.
Chart
EU enterprises using AI, by size
Share of EU enterprises with 10 or more employees using at least one AI technology, 2025.
- Small17%
- Medium30.4%
- Large55%
Source: Eurostat, Use of artificial intelligence in enterprises
Training, guidance and policies
- 39.
44% of U.S. employees said their organization had begun integrating AI in 2025, but only 22% said it had communicated a clear plan or strategy, per Gallup.
Gallup, AI Use at Work Has Nearly Doubled in Two Years (Jun 2025)
Source quote
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.
- 40.
30% of U.S. employees said their organization had general guidelines or formal policies for using AI at work in 2025.
Gallup, AI Use at Work Has Nearly Doubled in Two Years (Jun 2025)
Source quote
Similarly, 30% of employees say their organization has either general guidelines or formal policies for using AI at work.
- 41.
Only 16% of U.S. employees who use AI strongly agreed in 2025 that the AI tools their organization provides are useful for their work.
Gallup, AI Use at Work Has Nearly Doubled in Two Years (Jun 2025)
Source quote
Even among those who report using AI, only 16% strongly agree that the AI tools provided by their organization are useful for their work.
- 42.
U.S. employees whose manager actively supports their team's AI use had a 48% engagement rate in 2026, compared with 30% for those without that support, per Gallup.
Gallup, Employee Engagement Remains Flat as AI Adoption Accelerates (Jul 2026)
Source quote
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.
- 43.
49% of U.S. organizations that use or are about to pilot AI had a policy regulating workforce AI use in SHRM's 2026 survey of HR professionals.
SHRM, The State of AI in HR 2026: Executive Summary (2026)
Source quote
About half of organizations that currently use or are about to pilot AI (49%) have policies to regulate AI use among their workforces.
- 44.
57% of HR professionals at organizations that deployed AI said it had led to frequent upskilling or reskilling opportunities, while 7% reported slight job displacement, per SHRM.
SHRM, The State of AI in HR 2026: Executive Summary (2026)
Source quote
HR professionals at organizations where AI has been deployed reported that AI implementation has led to slight job displacement (cited by 7%), some new jobs or roles (24%), shifts in workers’ job responsibilities (39%), and frequent upskilling or reskilling opportunities for employees (57%).
- 45.
Lack of relevant expertise was the top reason EU enterprises that considered AI gave for not using it in 2025, cited by 70.89%.
Eurostat, Use of artificial intelligence in enterprises (Dec 2025)
Source quote
In 2025, among EU enterprises who had ever considered using AI technologies, the most common reason for not using AI technologies was the lack of relevant expertise (70.89%), followed by lack of clarity about the legal consequences (52.52%), and concerns regarding violation of data protection and privacy (48.83%).
- 46.
66% of people in KPMG and the University of Melbourne's 47-country study said they rely on AI output without evaluating its accuracy, and 56% said they had made mistakes in their work because of AI.
KPMG and the University of Melbourne, Trust, attitudes and use of AI: A global study 2025 (Apr 2025)
Source quote
Many rely on AI output without evaluating accuracy (66%) and are making mistakes in their work due to AI (56%).
Worker attitudes and job concerns
- 47.
52% of U.S. workers said they were worried about the future impact of AI use in the workplace in Pew's October 2024 survey, and 32% expected fewer job opportunities for themselves.
Pew Research Center, U.S. Workers Are More Worried Than Hopeful About Future AI Use in the Workplace (Feb 2025)
Source quote
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.
- 48.
15% of U.S. employees said in 2025 that automation, robots or AI were likely to eliminate their job within five years, unchanged from 2023 and 2024.
Gallup, AI Use at Work Has Nearly Doubled in Two Years (Jun 2025)
Source quote
Only 15% of employees say it is very or somewhat likely that automation, robots or AI will eliminate their job within the next five years, unchanged from 2023 and 2024 measures.
- 49.
43% of workers in Microsoft's 2025 global survey feared AI would take their jobs, compared with 21% of leaders at the most AI-advanced firms.
Microsoft, 2025: The Year the Frontier Firm Is Born (Work Trend Index) (Apr 2025)
Source quote
Frontier Firm leaders say they’re more optimistic about future work opportunities ( 93% vs. 80% globally ) and less likely to fear that AI will take their jobs ( 21% vs. 43% globally ).
- 50.
10% of Claude users surveyed by Anthropic in 2026 rated losing their own job as likely or very likely, while more than a third expected their responsibilities to change significantly.
Anthropic, Anthropic Economic Index report: Cadences (Jun 2026)
Source quote
10% rated losing their own jobs as likely or very likely.
- 51.
U.S. employment for software developers ages 22 to 25 fell nearly 20% from 2024, according to the 2026 AI Index.
Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, The 2026 AI Index Report: Economy (Apr 2026)
Source quote
Employment for software developers ages 22 to 25 has fallen nearly 20% from 2024.
- 52.
Freelancers doing AI work on Upwork earned 34% more per hour than those not using AI in 2026, according to the company's Future Workforce Index.
Upwork, Upwork's Future Workforce Index 2026: How AI is Redefining the Value of Work as Skilled Freelancing Accelerates (Jul 2026)
Source quote
Freelancers performing AI work on the Upwork Marketplace earn 34% more per hour than those not incorporating AI, but not all AI work is becoming more valuable.
Questions readers ask
- What percentage of workers use AI at work?
- About 56% of U.S. workers have used AI for at least one work task, according to the Census Bureau's March 2026 survey, and Pew Research Center found 38% of employed adults use chatbots for work tasks. Regular use is lower: Gallup found 26% use AI a few times a week or more and 12% daily.
- How much time does AI save workers?
- Among U.S. workers who used AI in the prior week, 31% said it saved one to two hours and 15% said more than four hours, while 10% said it saved no time, per the Census Bureau. Across all workers, the St. Louis Fed estimates savings equal to 1.6% of total work hours in 2025.
- What do workers use AI for most?
- Searching for information or technical help is the top use at 37% of U.S. workers, followed by writing communications and generating ideas at 32% each, according to the Census Bureau. In ChatGPT data published through NBER, writing makes up about 40% of work-related messages.
- Do employers have AI policies?
- Only 30% of U.S. employees say their organization has AI guidelines or formal policies and 22% say it has a clear AI plan, per Gallup's 2025 data. SHRM found 49% of organizations using or piloting AI have a workforce AI policy.
- How many businesses use AI?
- About 19.8% of U.S. businesses used AI in May 2026, according to the Census Bureau, rising to 37% of firms with 250 or more employees. In the EU, Eurostat found 55% of large enterprises and 17% of small ones used AI in 2025, and 32% of UK businesses used AI in 2026.
- Are workers worried AI will take their jobs?
- Pew found 52% of U.S. workers are worried about AI's future impact at work, but Gallup reports only 15% think it is likely AI will eliminate their job within five years, a share unchanged since 2023.
How these figures were chosen
We chose figures on worker and employer use of AI, tasks, time saved, training, policies and job concerns. Sources are the organizations that ran each survey or analysis, and every quote was checked against the source page on 2026-11-06. Definitions differ: the Census Bureau asks about 11 specific work tasks, Pew about chatbots, Gallup about AI in general at three frequencies, and the Federal Reserve surveys about the prior month, so their shares are not directly comparable. Anthropic and OpenAI describe their own users, who skew toward technical and professional work, and OpenAI's enterprise figures come from its business customers. Microsoft, KPMG, SHRM and Upwork ran their own surveys with their own samples. A few 2024 results from Pew and the St. Louis Fed are included because they remain the latest data of their kind, and each is labeled with its year. Every quote was copied from the publisher's page and re-checked by our source checker. Read the methodology.
Sources
- Anthropic. Anthropic Economic Index report: Cadences (Jun 2026).
- Anthropic. Anthropic Economic Index report: Uneven geographic and enterprise AI adoption (Sep 2025).
- Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2025 (May 2026).
- Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. AI adoption survey report 2026: executive summary (Oct 2026).
- Eurostat. Use of artificial intelligence in enterprises (Dec 2025).
- Eurostat. 32.7% of EU people used generative AI tools in 2025 (Dec 2025).
- Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The State of Generative AI Adoption in 2025 (Nov 2025).
- Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The Impact of Generative AI on Work Productivity (Feb 2025).
- Gallup. Frequent Use of AI in the Workplace Continued to Rise in Q4 (Jan 2026).
- Gallup. Employee Engagement Remains Flat as AI Adoption Accelerates (Jul 2026).
- Gallup. AI Use at Work Has Nearly Doubled in Two Years (Jun 2025).
- KPMG and the University of Melbourne. Trust, attitudes and use of AI: A global study 2025 (Apr 2025).
- Microsoft. 2025: The Year the Frontier Firm Is Born (Work Trend Index) (Apr 2025).
- National Bureau of Economic Research. How People Use ChatGPT (Working Paper 34255) (Sep 2025).
- OpenAI. The state of enterprise AI (Dec 2025).
- Pew Research Center. Americans and AI 2026: Chatbots, Smart Devices and Views on Impact (Jun 2026).
- Pew Research Center. U.S. Workers Are More Worried Than Hopeful About Future AI Use in the Workplace (Feb 2025).
- SHRM. The State of AI in HR 2026: Executive Summary (2026).
- Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. The 2026 AI Index Report: Economy (Apr 2026).
- U.S. Census Bureau. About a Third of Workers Who Used AI in the Last Week Said They Completed Tasks One to Two Hours Faster (Aug 2026).
- U.S. Census Bureau. AI Use at U.S. Businesses: Large Firms With at Least 20 Employees Biggest AI Users (May 2026).
- Upwork. Upwork's Future Workforce Index 2026: How AI is Redefining the Value of Work as Skilled Freelancing Accelerates (Jul 2026).
How to cite
Link to this page or to a single figure. Name the original publisher where you can.
KeenVerdict. (2026, November 6). AI at Work Statistics 2026. https://keenverdict.com/ai-at-work-statistics
Questions or corrections: editorial@keenverdict.com. Next scheduled review: January 5, 2027.