- 28% of workers use AI regularly, but only 16% have received training from their employers.
- About half have never been consulted about how they use AI in their specific role.
- This discrepancy could ultimately lead to shadow AI adoption and security issues.
New research from Nexthink has revealed that while 28% of American workers now use artificial intelligence at work several times a week, only about half of them (16%) have received AI training from their employers.
But as technology becomes more integrated into the workplace, nearly two in five (38%) workers are now demanding more AI training support from their employers.
Training aside, employees also complain about their organization’s broader AI strategy, noting that general AI strategies don’t consider the specific needs of job roles.
More than half (56%) of workers surveyed said their company had never consulted them about how AI is integrated into their AI functions. Furthermore, other studies have revealed how inadequate tool implementation ultimately leads to workers taking control into their own hands, adopting unapproved AI tools, and putting sensitive company information at risk within personal AI environments.
Vedant Sampath, CTO at Nexthink, highlighted the importance of “knowing where it is working, where it is creating friction and where the gaps in adoption really are.”
With this widespread dissatisfaction, only 9% of workers turn to their employers for advice on AI. Social media (31%), news articles (27%), and friends and family (21%) are much more likely to deliver results.
“When adoption outpaces training and governance by this margin, organizations do not have a clear path to AI value,” Sampath added. “Some employees advance while others fall behind, and the security risks of ungoverned use of AI go unnoticed.”
Looking ahead, companies must recognize workers’ appetite for AI tools and move more quickly, meeting them where they are with enterprise-grade versions of the tools that are proven to work. And while the jury is still out on whether it’s the employer’s or employee’s responsibility to upskill in AI, a clear demand presents a huge opportunity for companies to embrace the narrative.
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