Americans are embracing AI in the workplace at remarkable speed, new poll finds

Around six in 10 technology workers report frequent AI use, with three in 10 utilizing it daily

American workers have embraced artificial intelligence in their professional lives at a remarkable pace over the past few years, a new poll reveals.

A significant 12% of employed adults now report using AI daily in their jobs, according to a Gallup Workforce survey conducted last fall among more than 22,000 U.S. workers.

The survey highlights a rapid acceleration in AI adoption, with roughly one-quarter of respondents using AI at least frequently – defined as a few times a week – and nearly half engaging with it at least a few times a year.

This marks a substantial increase from 21% who reported occasional AI use in 2023, when Gallup first began tracking the trend.

The surge is largely attributed to the widespread commercial boom ignited by ChatGPT, which popularised generative AI tools capable of drafting emails, writing code, summarising documents, creating images, and answering complex questions.

Among those integrating AI into their daily routines is Gene Walinski, a 70-year-old Home Depot store associate. He consults an AI assistant on his personal phone approximately every hour during his shift to better answer customer queries about supplies he is not "100% familiar with" in the electrical department of his New Smyrna Beach, Florida, store. "I think my job would suffer if I couldn’t because there would be a lot of shrugged shoulders and ‘I don’t know’ and customers don’t want to hear that," Walinski explained.

While AI use is expanding across various professions, adoption rates remain notably higher in technology-related fields.

Research identifies approximately 6.1 million US workers who are heavily exposed to AI but less equipped to adapt (Getty/iStock)

Around six in 10 technology workers report frequent AI use, with three in 10 utilizing it daily. Although the proportion of tech sector employees using AI regularly has grown significantly since 2023, there are indications that this explosive increase, particularly between 2024 and 2025, might be starting to plateau.

The finance sector also shows high AI adoption. Andrea Tanzi, a 28-year-old investment banker in New York, uses AI tools daily to synthesise documents and data sets that would otherwise demand several hours of review. Working for Bank of America, Tanzi also leverages the bank’s internal AI chatbot, Erica, for administrative tasks. Similarly, majorities of those in professional services, higher education, and K-12 education report using AI at least a few times annually.

Joyce Hatzidakis, a 60-year-old high school art teacher in Riverside, California, began experimenting with AI chatbots to refine her communications with parents. "I can scribble out a note and not worry about what I say and then tell it what tone I want," she said. "And then, when I reread it, if it’s not quite right, I can have it edited again. I’m definitely getting less parent complaints."

A separate Gallup Workforce survey from last year found that approximately six in 10 employees using AI rely on chatbots or virtual assistants. About four in 10 AI users at work reported using AI to consolidate information, generate ideas, or learn new things.

Hatzidakis, for instance, started with ChatGPT before switching to Google’s Gemini when her school district adopted it as an official tool, even using it for recommendation letters because "there’s only so many ways to say a kid is really creative."

The AI industry and the US government are actively promoting AI adoption in workplaces and schools, driven by the need to justify substantial investments in energy-intensive AI computing systems. However, economists remain divided on the extent to which AI will boost productivity or impact employment prospects.

Despite the increasing integration of AI, a separate Gallup Workforce survey from 2025 found that few employees believe it is "very" or "somewhat" likely that new technology, automation, robots, or AI will eliminate their job within the next five years (Getty Images)

Sam Manning, a fellow at the Centre for the Governance of AI and co-author of new papers on AI job effects for the Brookings Institution and the National Bureau of Economic Research, suggests that "most of the workers that are most highly exposed to AI, who are most likely to have it disrupt their workflows, for good or for bad, have these characteristics that make them pretty adaptable." These workers, often in computer-based roles with high AI usage, "usually have higher levels of education, wider ranges of skill sets that can be applied to different jobs, and they also have higher savings, which is helpful for weathering an income shock if you lose your job," Manning noted.

Conversely, Manning’s research identifies approximately 6.1 million US workers who are heavily exposed to AI but less equipped to adapt. Many are in administrative and clerical roles, with about 86% being women, older, and concentrated in smaller cities like university towns or state capitals, offering fewer career transition options. "If their skills are automated, they have less transferable skills to other jobs and they have a lower savings, if any savings," Manning warned. "An income shock could be much more harmful or difficult to manage."

Despite the increasing integration of AI, a separate Gallup Workforce survey from 2025 found that few employees believe it is "very" or "somewhat" likely that new technology, automation, robots, or AI will eliminate their job within the next five years. Half of respondents considered it "not at all likely," though this figure has decreased from about six in 10 in 2023.

Among those unconcerned about job displacement is the Rev. Michael Bingham, pastor of the Faith Community Methodist Church in Jacksonville, Florida. He recounted a chatbot providing "gibberish" when asked about the medieval theologian Anselm of Canterbury, asserting he would never ask a "soulless" machine to help write sermons, relying instead on "the power of God." "You don’t want a machine, you want a human being, to hold your hand if you’re dying," Bingham stated. "And you want to know that your loved one was able to hold the hand of a loving human being who cared for them."

AI usage is less prevalent in service-based sectors such as retail, healthcare, or manufacturing. Gene Walinski, who joined Home Depot last year after a decades-long career in the car business, was not asked to use AI but was also not discouraged. He remains "not at all worried" about AI replacing him. "The human interface part is really what a store like mine works on," Walinski concluded. "It’s all about the people."