The Rise of AI Utilization in the Workplace
by Andy Kemp
In a significant shift, the proportion of American workers who reported using artificial intelligence (AI) in their jobs has increased from 40% to 45% between the second and third quarters of 2025. This trend reflects a growing acceptance of AI tools among employees, with those using AI several times a week rising from 19% to 23%. Meanwhile, daily engagement with AI saw a modest increase, moving from 8% to 10% during the same timeframe.
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These findings come from the latest Gallup Workforce study, which surveyed a robust sample of 23,068 adults across the United States who are employed either full-time or part-time. The survey was conducted online from August 5 to August 19 and is designed to be representative of the national workforce.
When looking at specific job sectors, it becomes clear that employees in knowledge-intensive roles, such as those in technology and professional services, are more likely to incorporate AI into their work routine than those in frontline positions. For instance, a notable 76% of individuals working in technology or information systems reported using AI at least a few times a year, followed by 58% in finance and 57% in professional services. In contrast, industries with a higher concentration of frontline workers showed lower usage rates: only 33% of retail employees, 37% in healthcare, and 38% in manufacturing reported similar AI use.
A Divided Workforce on Organizational AI Adoption
In the third quarter of 2025, 37% of employees indicated that their organizations had adopted AI technologies aimed at enhancing productivity, efficiency, and quality of work. However, 40% believed their companies had not implemented AI, while 23% were uncertain about their organization’s stance on AI adoption. Interestingly, the percentage of employees unsure about AI implementation was lower than those who acknowledged using AI tools at least occasionally in the previous year, yet higher than those who used it regularly. This discrepancy hints that many employees may be utilizing personal AI applications without being fully aware of their organization's overall AI strategy.
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Among different roles, individual contributors expressed greater uncertainty about AI implementation than managers or leaders, with 26% of individual contributors unaware compared to just 16% of managers and 7% of leadership roles. Part-time employees, those working on-site, and individuals in frontline positions also showed heightened levels of uncertainty. It appears that employees who are further removed from decision-making processes within their organizations tend to have less awareness regarding the use of AI.
In a previous iteration of this survey, respondents were not given the option to select "don’t know," which likely encouraged them to speculate on their organizations’ AI usage. As a result, the belief that their organization had adopted AI jumped from 33% in May 2024 to 44% in May 2025, while those asserting that AI had not been implemented dropped from 67% to 56%.
With the recent survey including a “don’t know” choice, the Q3 2025 results cannot be directly compared to prior data. The fact that 23% of respondents selected this option underscores a considerable variation in how well employees are informed about their companies' AI initiatives.
AI Tools for Information Consolidation and Idea Generation
According to the Q2 2025 survey, over 40% of employees who used AI on at least an annual basis reported utilizing it to consolidate information (42%) and generate ideas (41%). Additionally, 36% indicated they employed AI to acquire new knowledge. These reported uses of AI have remained consistent since Gallup's initial survey on the topic in Q2 2024.
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When asked about the types of AI tools they utilized at work, more than 60% of U.S. employees who engaged with AI mentioned using chatbots or virtual assistants. AI writing and editing software followed closely behind, with 36% of respondents utilizing these tools, and 14% reported using AI coding assistants.
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While advanced AI tools tailored for specific applications such as data science, analytics, or coding remain relatively uncommon, those employees who frequently leverage AI tend to make more use of these specialized tools. A striking difference exists between frequent and infrequent users in their engagement with coding assistants (22% vs. 8%) and data science or analytics tools (18% vs. 8%).
Implications
The trend toward increased AI use in the workplace is undeniable, with 45% of employees acknowledging they use AI at least a few times a year as of Q3 2025. Nevertheless, the frequency of daily use remains low, limited to about 10% of the workforce. This usage pattern highlights that while many employees are beginning to embrace AI, it is still predominantly found in particular roles and industries, lagging behind broader organizational AI adoption.
Gallup’s research indicates that greater managerial support and a strategic approach to integrating AI within workplaces are strongly linked to widespread employee adoption of these technologies (https://www.gallup.com/workplace/694682/manager-support-drives-employee-adoption.aspx).
