By Anietie Anii-Bassey
American workers are integrating artificial intelligence into their daily routines at an accelerating pace, with a growing share now relying on digital assistants, chatbots and automated tools to handle everything from customer questions to data analysis, according to a new nationwide survey of employees.
The Gallup Workforce poll, conducted this fall among more than 22,000 U.S. workers, found that about 12 percent of employed adults now use AI every day in their jobs. Roughly one-quarter reported using the technology at least a few times a week, and nearly half said they turn to AI several times a year or more.
The results underscore how quickly generative AI tools have spread through offices and workplaces since 2023, when only about 21 percent of workers said they used AI even occasionally.
The surge has been fueled by the rapid commercialization of systems that can draft emails, write computer code, summarize lengthy documents, generate images and answer complex questions—capabilities that have become widely accessible since the debut of popular large-language-model platforms.
For Gene Walinski, a 70-year-old Home Depot associate in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, AI has become a quiet but constant companion during his shifts in the electrical department. Using an assistant on his personal phone, he looks up specifications and product details about once an hour to better help customers.
“I think my job would suffer if I couldn’t,” Walinski said. “There would be a lot of shrugged shoulders and ‘I don’t know,’ and customers don’t want to hear that.”
Usage is far from uniform across the economy. Workers in technology-heavy roles remain the most enthusiastic adopters. About six in 10 people in tech-related fields said they use AI frequently, and roughly three in 10 reported daily use.
While those figures have climbed sharply since 2023, survey data suggest the breakneck growth seen between 2024 and 2025 may be beginning to level off as early adopters reach saturation.
Finance is another sector where AI has become routine. Andrea Tanzi, a 28-year-old investment banker in New York, said he depends on AI tools each day to sift through dense reports and large data sets that once consumed hours.
“It’s a huge time saver,” Tanzi said, adding that he also relies on his employer’s internal chatbot for administrative chores.
Educators and professional workers are also experimenting with the technology. Majorities of employees in professional services, higher education and K–12 schools told surveyors they use AI at least a few times a year.
Joyce Hatzidakis, a 60-year-old high school art teacher in Riverside, California, said she began using chatbots to polish messages to parents.
“I can scribble out a note and not worry about what I say and then tell it what tone I want,” she explained. “If it’s not quite right, I can have it edited again. I’m definitely getting less parent complaints.”
Hatzidakis initially used ChatGPT before switching to Google’s Gemini after her district standardized on that platform. She has even relied on it to draft recommendation letters, saying there are “only so many ways to say a kid is really creative.”
Previous workforce surveys show that chatbots and virtual assistants dominate workplace AI use, with about six in 10 AI-using employees relying on conversational tools. Around four in 10 said they turn to AI to consolidate information, brainstorm ideas or learn new skills.
The expanding footprint of AI is being actively encouraged by both technology companies and the federal government, which argue that broad adoption is essential to justify the enormous investments required to build and operate power-hungry computing infrastructure.
Still, economists remain divided on how much productivity gains will materialize and how disruptive the technology could prove for certain occupations.
Sam Manning, a fellow at the Centre for the Governance of AI and a co-author of recent research for the Brookings Institution and the National Bureau of Economic Research, said workers most exposed to AI-driven change are often relatively well positioned to adapt.
“Those in heavily computer-based jobs usually have higher levels of education, broader skill sets and higher savings,” Manning said. “That makes it easier to move into new roles or weather an income shock.”
But his research also highlights a more vulnerable group—an estimated 6.1 million U.S. workers whose roles are highly exposed to automation yet who have fewer resources to adjust.
Many are in administrative and clerical positions, are disproportionately women, tend to be older and often live in smaller metropolitan areas such as state capitals or university towns where alternative job options can be limited.
“If their skills are automated, they have less transferable skills to other jobs and lower savings, if any savings at all,” Manning said. “An income shock could be much more harmful or difficult to manage.”
Despite those risks, anxiety about being replaced by machines remains relatively muted. A separate Gallup survey conducted in 2025 found that most employees did not think it was likely that AI, robots or automation would eliminate their jobs within five years.
About half said such an outcome was “not at all likely,” though that share has slipped from roughly six in 10 two years earlier.
Some workers remain openly skeptical of the technology’s reach. The Rev. Michael Bingham, pastor of Faith Community Methodist Church in Jacksonville, Florida, said a chatbot once produced nonsense when he asked it about medieval theologian Anselm of Canterbury, reinforcing his belief that machines have limits.
He said he would never rely on AI to help write sermons and prefers to draw inspiration from prayer and study.
“You don’t want a machine—you want a human being—to hold your hand if you’re dying,” Bingham said. “You want to know that your loved one was able to hold the hand of someone who truly cared.”
Service-oriented sectors such as retail, health care and manufacturing continue to lag behind office-based industries in AI adoption, the survey found.
Walinski said his employer never required him to use the technology when he joined the store last year after decades in the car business, but neither discouraged it.
He is unconcerned that AI will soon replace him.
“The human interface part is really what a store like mine works on,” Walinski said. “It’s all about the people.”
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