U.S. employees who were already using artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace used it slightly more frequently in the fourth quarter of 2025 than in the previous quarter, and continued to gradually increase from 2023 onwards. The percentage of employees using AI daily rose from 10% to 12%. Frequent use, defined as using AI at least several times a week at work, also increased by three points to 26%.
These increases are on par with the reported expansion of frequent use of AI in the workplace throughout 2025. Meanwhile, the share of total users who use AI at work at least several times a year remained flat in the fourth quarter after increasing sharply early in the trend. Almost half (49%) of U.S. workers report they have “never” used AI in their jobs.
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Organizations’ AI adoption remains unchanged from last quarter. In Q4, 38% of employees said their organization is integrating AI technology to improve productivity, efficiency, and quality. 41% said their organization does not have AI tools in place, and 21% said they did not know. These results closely mirror the third quarter numbers.
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Use of AI varies by industry and role type
The use of AI in the workplace is most prevalent in knowledge-based industries and least common in production and service-based sectors. Technology, finance, and higher education employees report the highest levels of AI use, especially compared to U.S. retail, manufacturing, and healthcare employees.
Line chart depicts trends in workplace AI usage by industry for U.S. employees from 2023 to 2025. Across all industries, the total usage of AI has increased over time, with notable variations in adoption levels. Technology usage is highest, with a total usage rate of 77% for AI, of which 57% are frequent users and 31% are daily users. Universities and financial institutions also have high adoption rates, with total AI usage reported at 63% and 64%, respectively. AI usage by professional services reaches a total of 62%, with 36% using it frequently and 16% using it daily. In K-12 education, the use of AI is increasing, with a total of 56% of AI usage. Community or social services, government or public policy, healthcare and manufacturing industries have seen slower adoption, with total AI usage ranging from approximately 41% to 43%. Retail industry has the lowest adoption rate, with a reported total AI usage rate of 33% (19% frequent users and 10% daily users).
Growth in AI usage was uneven across industries in the fourth quarter. The largest increases in total AI user base were in financial services and professional services, up 6 and 5 points, respectively. These increases widened the existing gap between high-growth industries and those with low AI usage. In retail, total AI usage in Q4 did not increase from Q3, while in manufacturing it increased by 3 percentage points.
In industries where the use of AI is most prevalent, such as technology, overall user growth is showing signs of leveling off, with growth primarily among those already using AI. Total usage of AI in technology increased by just 1 percentage point from 76% to 77% in Q4, while frequent usage increased from 50% to 57%.
Across industries, the use of AI is focused on roles that employees describe as remotely capable. This means that work can reasonably be completed remotely, regardless of where an employee actually works. These roles are typically desk and office-based positions.
Since Q2 2023, total AI use among employees in remote-capable roles has increased from 28% to 66%, and among frequent users from 13% to 40%. Growth has slowed in jobs that are not remote-compatible. AI usage in these jobs increased from 15% to 32%, and frequent use increased from 8% to 17%.
Line chart compares AI usage for U.S. employees in remote-enabled and non-remote-enabled roles from 2023 to 2025. Employees in remote-capable roles have been shown to have significantly higher rates of AI adoption over time. By 2025, AI usage among remote-capable employees will reach a total of 66%, with 40% using AI frequently and 19% using it daily. Employees in roles without remote capabilities reported much lower utilization. The most recent data shows that these employees’ total AI usage is 32%, with 17% using AI frequently and 7% using AI daily.
Leaders continue to use AI more than other employees
Employees in leadership positions are more likely to use AI in the workplace than managers or individual contributors. In Q4, 69% of leaders said they use AI at least a few times a year, compared to 55% of managers and 40% of individual contributors. Some of this difference may reflect the type of role. This is because leaders are more likely to have office-based or remote-enabled roles where AI tools can be more easily applied.
line graph. Percentage of Americans who think the coronavirus situation in the United States is getting much better, a little better, the same, or much worse from April 2020 to February 2022. In the latest poll, 63% of American adults say things are getting better, up from 20% in January. 12% of respondents said the situation has worsened, down from 58% in January, and 25% said the current situation has remained largely unchanged.
Leaders also report using AI more frequently than other employees, and that gap widens over time. Since Q2 2023, frequent use of AI among leaders has increased from 17% to 44%. Over the same period, frequent use by administrators doubled from 15% to 30%, and frequent use by individual contributors increased from 9% to 23%. Frequent usage has increased for all three types of employees since the third quarter, contributing to the overall increase in the fourth quarter.
what it means
In Q4 2025, there was a slight increase in frequent use of AI, on par with the increase seen in Q3, but overall the percentage of employees who said they were using AI remained flat. Usage remains most prevalent in knowledge-based industries and remote-enabled roles. These differences in AI adoption may help explain why overall adoption appears to be slowing, even as AI use continues to deepen within certain segments of the workforce.
Leaders in particular report using AI at significantly higher rates and frequency than other employees, and the gap is widening over time. Gallup research shows that the most common barrier to individuals’ use of AI is lack of practicality, suggesting that clear AI use cases may be more obvious to leaders than to employees in other roles. This highlights the importance for organizations integrating AI technology to make AI deployment decisions with a clear understanding of how AI can be applied across different roles and functions, as well as the stakeholders closest to the decision-making process.
Gallup’s latest metrics track AI adoption in the workplace over time, including frequency of use, employee comfort, manager support, organizational integration, and strategic communications. Explore all our metrics on global data on what matters most to the workplace and society as a whole.
Lead AI adoption intentionally and clearly.
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