Half of US employees now use AI at work as daily usage hits record high, Gallup poll shows

Half of all US employees now use artificial intelligence at work, crossing landmark threshold for first time -- Gallup data shows daily and weekly usage hitting all-time high of 28% in Q1 2026, with 65% feeling positive about its impact on productivity

Half of all American adults in active employment now use some form of artificial intelligence in their role, according to a new Gallup poll. While that figure relates to the whole number of employees using AI in some form across a year, the active number of daily and weekly users using AI has risen over the last quarter, too. The results of the Gallup survey, dating from February 4 to February 19, 2026, and specifically asking 23,717 U.S. employees how often they used AI as part of their role, show an increase in total AI users from 21% in Q2 2023 to 50% in Q1 2026, an increase by 4% since Q4 2025. The number of users who are using AI daily has also increased to a record high of 13% this quarter, while those using it daily or a few times weekly have risen to 28%. This isn't a huge surprise: AI adoption is booming across all major industries. Major tech companies involved in AI are investing heavily in its growth, with Google owner Alphabet doubling its expenditure on AI to $180 billion this year. While a recent survey of executives by the National Bureau of Economic Research reports that over 80% of AI-consuming companies see no productivity gains from using tools to improve productivity and cut employment costs, the steamroller shows no sign of slowing down. Gallup's survey shows how quickly AI tools are beginning to rework the workplace around them. It also suggests that AI's adoption is causing a large proportion of disruption to companies, with 27% of employees at companies using AI reporting a large or very large disruption to their workplace over the last year. It isn't definitive, however, with 12% of employees at non-AI firms also reporting similar disruption. Paradoxically, a larger number of employees at firms adopting AI report their companies both expanding with new hires (34%, in comparison to 28% against non-AI firms) and doubling down on headcount reduction (23% versus 16%). Despite the disruption, 65% of employees at companies using artificial intelligence are positive about its impact on productivity and efficiency at work, with 16% extremely positive. It's a double-edged sword, however. Employees who responded did suggest that AI was useful with specific tasks, like summarizing information, but the benefits don't reach as far as improving the workplace itself. 10% of respondents said AI was having a negative impact on their work, while 21% said AI was transforming how work "gets done" at their workplace. This survey is further proof that, so far, AI continues to grow apace, leaving organizations of all sizes struggling to adapt to its growth and adoption. What this Gallup survey suggests is that, while individual employees have begun to find specific use cases for it to help them work, there's still work to do for AI-positive employers to successfully transform the workplace around it. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.

As AI use increases at work, many employees still choose not to use it: Gallup poll

More American workers are experimenting with artificial intelligence in their jobs, but skepticism is still widespread. New Gallup polling finds that while more employees are using AI frequently in their work, there's been an uptick in alarm that new technologies will replace their jobs. Many workers who are not using AI say they prefer to work without it, have ethical oppositions to the technology or worry about data privacy. The poll, conducted in February, points to a divergence in how AI is reshaping American workplaces. Some find it to be a gamechanger for productivity and efficiency, while others are concerned about its potentially negative impacts. Social worker Scott Segal said he regularly uses AI to find information that will help connect his elderly and vulnerable patients to health care resources in northern Virginia. While he knows that the human connection and care he brings to that work is important, he also believes that AI could soon replace him. "I'm planning ahead," said Segal, 53. "I think everyone who works in a replaceable field or trade should be planning ahead." Roughly 3 in 10 employees are frequent users of AI in their jobs, meaning they use it daily or a few times a week. About 2 in 10 are infrequent users, using AI tools at work a few times a month or a few times a year. The Gallup poll found that about 4 in 10 workers say their organization has adopted AI tools or technology to improve organizational practices. About two-thirds of those workers say AI has had an "extremely" or "somewhat" positive impact on their individual productivity and efficiency at work. Workers using AI in management roles are more likely to say the technology has been at least "somewhat" positive for their productivity, compared with individual contributors. About 7 in 10 leaders using AI at least a few times a year say AI has made them more efficient at work, compared with just over half of individual contributors. Labor and employment attorney Elizabeth Bloch of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, said she uses ChatGPT to help "draft letters or emails in a diplomatic way because it's a very adversarial profession and sometimes you get heated." AI tools appear to have a greater benefit for workers in managerial, health care and technology roles than in service jobs. About 6 in 10 employees in those fields who are using AI say it's boosted their productivity at least "somewhat," compared with 45% of those using it in service jobs. Even when companies make AI tools available, there's no guarantee employees will adopt them. About half of U.S. employees use AI only once a year or not at all, according to the Gallup study. Bloch said she's tried using AI for legal research but finds it is prone to hallucinations, or making up false information, even when using AI tools custom-built for legal work. She's worried other lawyers who were already bad at finding and citing relevant case law are "going to be bad at using AI, because you're not using the right prompts," leading judges to sanction them for false citations. Among workers who have AI tools available at their company and don't use them, 46% say it's because they prefer to keep doing their work the way they do it now. About 4 in 10 non-users who have AI available to them report that they are ethically opposed to AI, are concerned about data privacy or don't believe AI can be helpful for the work they do. About one-quarter of these non-users who have AI tools available say they have used AI at work and don't find it helpful, while about 2 in 10 say they do not feel prepared to use AI effectively. Thuy Pisone, a contract administrator in Maryland for a company that works with the federal government, said she uses AI weekly for mundane tasks but has avoided it for things she already can do just fine. "I have heard from my colleagues that we could use AI to put together our PowerPoint slides," Pisone said. "I'm a little biased in that, well, I could put my own PowerPoints together. I don't need help because it took me time to hone up my skill." While this was less of a reason for forgoing AI at work, the poll also found U.S. workers are increasingly concerned about being driven out of a job by new technologies. About 2 in 10 -- 18% -- of U.S. workers say it is "very" or "somewhat" likely that their current job will be eliminated within the next five years because of new technology, automation, robots or AI. That's up from 15% in 2025. People working at companies that have adopted AI are even more likely to be concerned that their job will be eliminated: 23% call this at least "somewhat" likely in the next few years. A Fox News poll conducted in March found that about 6 in 10 registered voters believe AI will eliminate more jobs than it creates over the next five years. Only about 1 in 10 expect it will create more positions, and about one-third say it's too soon to say. About 7 in 10 employed voters say they are "not very" or "not at all" concerned their current job could be eliminated by AI. Segal, the social worker in Virginia, said his alternative plan if AI replaces him is to start a new "health care chaperone service" that physically escorts patients from one appointment to another, especially when they've been sedated and don't have family or others to pick them up. "I don't think that's something that will be replaced for another maybe 10 or 15 years, until robots are embodied with AI," Segal said. "I do believe that AI is going to displace most people's employment functions and I question what people will do for livelihood at that point." In the meantime, he's been asking AI chatbots to help him strategize on saving for his retirement. ___ Gallup's quarterly workforce surveys were conducted with a random sample of adults age 18 and older who work full time and part time for organizations in the United States and are members of Gallup's probability-based Gallup Panel. The most recent survey of 23,717 employed U.S. adults was conducted Feb. 4-19, 2026. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 0.9 percentage points.

Here's who's leading AI adoption in the work place

By the numbers: The February survey of 23,717 U.S. employees found that regular AI usage is also increasing, with 13% of workers saying they use the tech daily, compared to 12% last quarter and 10% before that. * But where workers fall on the food chain makes a difference: In organizations that make AI tools available, 67% of leaders said they used AI daily or a few times a week, compared to 52% of managers, 50% of project managers and 46% of individual contributors. * The report says that differences by role "reflect how many mainstream AI tools align with the tasks employees perform," with leaders and managers taking on "desk-based" responsibilities for which such tools can be "readily applied." What we're watching: Workers' concerns about their jobs being displaced have grown with AI adoption and organizational shifts, Gallup's report notes. * Across U.S. employees, 18% say it is very or somewhat likely their job would be replaced within the next five years due to new tech and automation. * Among those who work in organizations that have adopted AI, that share jumps to 23%. Methodology: These results for the quarterly Gallup workforce studies are based on self-administered web surveys conducted with a random sample of adults. The survey conducted Feb. 4 to 19 was among 23,717 employed U.S. adults with a margin of error of ±0.9 percentage points.

'I don't need help': Meet some of the AI resisters who smell their own extinction | Fortune

More American workers are experimenting with artificial intelligence in their jobs, but skepticism is still widespread. New Gallup polling finds that while more employees are using AI frequently in their work, there's been an uptick in alarm that new technologies will replace their jobs. Many workers who are not using AI say they prefer to work without it, have ethical oppositions to the technology or worry about data privacy. The poll, conducted in February, points to a divergence in how AI is reshaping American workplaces. Some find it to be a gamechanger for productivity and efficiency, while others are concerned about its potentially negative impacts. Social worker Scott Segal said he regularly uses AI to find information that will help connect his elderly and vulnerable patients to health care resources in northern Virginia. While he knows that the human connection and care he brings to that work is important, he also believes that AI could soon replace him. "I'm planning ahead," said Segal, 53. "I think everyone who works in a replaceable field or trade should be planning ahead." Roughly three in 10 employees are frequent users of AI in their jobs, meaning they use it daily or a few times a week. About two in 10 are infrequent users, using AI tools at work a few times a month or a few times a year. The Gallup poll found that about four in 10 workers say their organization has adopted AI tools or technology to improve organizational practices. About two-thirds of those workers say AI has had an "extremely" or "somewhat" positive impact on their individual productivity and efficiency at work. Workers using AI in management roles are more likely to say the technology has been at least "somewhat" positive for their productivity, compared with individual contributors. About seven in 10 leaders using AI at least a few times a year say AI has made them more efficient at work, compared with just over half of individual contributors. Labor and employment attorney Elizabeth Bloch of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, said she uses ChatGPT to help "draft letters or emails in a diplomatic way because it's a very adversarial profession and sometimes you get heated." AI tools appear to have a greater benefit for workers in managerial, health care and technology roles than in service jobs. About 6 in 10 employees in those fields who are using AI say it's boosted their productivity at least "somewhat," compared with 45% of those using it in service jobs. Even when companies make AI tools available, there's no guarantee employees will adopt them. About half of U.S. employees use AI only once a year or not at all, according to the Gallup study. Bloch said she's tried using AI for legal research but finds it is prone to hallucinations, or making up false information, even when using AI tools custom-built for legal work. She's worried other lawyers who were already bad at finding and citing relevant case law are "going to be bad at using AI, because you're not using the right prompts," leading judges to sanction them for false citations. Among workers who have AI tools available at their company and don't use them, 46% say it's because they prefer to keep doing their work the way they do it now. About 4 in 10 non-users who have AI available to them report that they are ethically opposed to AI, are concerned about data privacy or don't believe AI can be helpful for the work they do. About one-quarter of these non-users who have AI tools available say they have used AI at work and don't find it helpful, while about 2 in 10 say they do not feel prepared to use AI effectively. Thuy Pisone, a contract administrator in Maryland for a company that works with the federal government, said she uses AI weekly for mundane tasks but has avoided it for things she already can do just fine. "I have heard from my colleagues that we could use AI to put together our PowerPoint slides," Pisone said. "I'm a little biased in that, well, I could put my own PowerPoints together. I don't need help because it took me time to hone up my skill." While this was less of a reason for forgoing AI at work, the poll also found U.S. workers are increasingly concerned about being driven out of a job by new technologies. About two in 10 -- 18% -- of U.S. workers say it is "very" or "somewhat" likely that their current job will be eliminated within the next five years because of new technology, automation, robots or AI. That's up from 15% in 2025. People working at companies that have adopted AI are even more likely to be concerned that their job will be eliminated: 23% call this at least "somewhat" likely in the next few years. A Fox News poll conducted in March found that about six in 10 registered voters believe AI will eliminate more jobs than it creates over the next five years. Only about one in 10 expect it will create more positions, and about one-third say it's too soon to say. About seven in 10 employed voters say they are "not very" or "not at all" concerned their current job could be eliminated by AI. Segal, the social worker in Virginia, said his alternative plan if AI replaces him is to start a new "health care chaperone service" that physically escorts patients from one appointment to another, especially when they've been sedated and don't have family or others to pick them up. "I don't think that's something that will be replaced for another maybe 10 or 15 years, until robots are embodied with AI," Segal said. "I do believe that AI is going to displace most people's employment functions and I question what people will do for livelihood at that point." In the meantime, he's been asking AI chatbots to help him strategize on saving for his retirement. ___ Gallup's quarterly workforce surveys were conducted with a random sample of adults age 18 and older who work full time and part time for organizations in the United States and are members of Gallup's probability-based Gallup Panel. The most recent survey of 23,717 employed U.S. adults was conducted Feb. 4-19, 2026. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 0.9 percentage points.