Widespread AI Use Masks a Growing Workplace Readiness Gap

Nine in 10 employees are already using AI at work. The catch? Most are still figuring it out as they go.

As AI cements its place in the daily workflow, companies are no longer treating it as an experiment. It’s an expectation. But while adoption has surged, confidence and competence haven’t kept pace.

A new Study.com report reveals a widening gap between using AI and using it well. Training is inconsistent, independent proficiency is rare, and the promised productivity gains are proving far less reliable than the hype suggests.

Employees are expected to use AI now

AI is no longer sitting at the edges of office life.

The report found that 21% of employees are required to use AI as part of their core job functions, while 45% are encouraged or expected to use it, indicating that AI is no longer confined to experimentation or early adopters. More than half of employees said they use AI regularly for one or more work tasks, with another 37% using it occasionally.

That leaves a growing share of employees working with AI under real job expectations, not casual experimentation.

Familiarity doesn’t mean proficiency

Heavy use has not translated into strong readiness. Study.com found that only 1 in 6 employees feel fully prepared to use AI well, while 35% have received no AI training at all. Even among workers who have received training, just 18% said it prepared them to work independently.

The gap shows up in specific skills, too. Fewer than half of employees said they feel confident judging whether AI output is accurate and useful, and fewer than a third said they feel confident using AI safely for sensitive or regulated work.

“Real AI readiness isn’t about whether your people have access to the tools. It’s about whether they can actually use them effectively,” Stacy Redd DeMartini, director of Content & Services at Study.com, told TechRepublic in an email.

AI efficiency is still hit or miss

The productivity case is also less settled than adoption rates might suggest. While 71% of employees said AI saves them time on a weekly basis, only 15% reported saving five or more hours per week, and nearly 1 in 3 said they see no net time saved at all.

Part of the drag appears to come from employees still struggling to use the tools effectively. Twenty percent of employees revise AI output every time they use it, while another 45% do so at least sometimes, eating into the efficiency gains AI is supposed to deliver.

“If organizations don’t invest in the right training now, what looks like a temporary slowdown becomes a permanent drag on productivity,” DeMartini said.

Also read: Disney is cutting 1,000 jobs as it aligns its future more closely with technology, efficiency, and scale.