Daily AI use is rising at work, so is employee AI training keeping up?

Short answer: PwC's 2026 workforce survey says daily generative AI use at work has risen from 14% to 22% in a year, while fewer workers say they have the learning they need. For employers, the gap between how much staff use AI and how much training they get is now the thing to close.

What PwC found

PwC's Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2026 canvassed 49,364 workers across 48 countries and regions and 29 sectors in May and June 2026. It is a global survey, so these are not UK-only figures. On 5 November, HR Magazine published an interview with Pete Brown, PwC's global workforce leader, which brought the findings back into focus for HR teams.

The main figures, as PwC reports them:

• 64% of workers used AI at work in the past 12 months, up ten percentage points on last year.
• Daily use of generative AI rose from 14% to 22%.
• 59% expect their use of AI tools in their job to increase over the next 12 months.
• Daily users were more confident about their job security (68%) than infrequent users (57%).

Learning access moved the other way. Peepals' summary of the survey reports that 51% of workers said they had the learning and development they need, down from 59%. It also reports that the largest group in PwC's four-way split of the workforce, the Engine Room at 56% of workers, is where the shortfall is sharpest: only two in five of them said they had the training resources they need.

What Pete Brown told HR Magazine

Brown told HR Magazine that many workers are ahead of their organisations, equipping themselves with AI skills without being told to. He said leaders should be clear and transparent with staff, and that it does not matter what tools an organisation provides if workers do not trust it. He also advised leaders to understand how AI will help achieve business outcomes before redesigning work, rather than treating it as an IT project.

Why this matters for AI training

Two points stand out for anyone planning training.

Daily use is not the same as skill. PwC found that 31% of daily AI users named accuracy or quality concerns as their top barrier to using AI. People who use AI often learn where it falls short, which is a good reason to teach checking habits properly rather than assume regular users have them.

Confidence follows practice. Daily users were 21 points more likely to feel confident they can learn new skills, and 15 points more likely to trust top management, according to the coverage in Benefits and Pensions Monitor. That is a correlation, not proof that training causes it. Even so, it suggests that getting the quieter majority of staff using AI in their day-to-day work, with support, is worth the effort.

Practical takeaways by role

L&D leaders: Look at who has had practical AI training and who has not. If your most enthusiastic users are the only ones who have been trained, the rest of the workforce is where the next sessions should go. Build them around real tasks in each role, not tool tours. Our AI upskilling for staff page explains how we approach this.

HR leaders: Treat AI skills as part of development conversations and make sure people who are not using AI yet are not left behind. A clear employee AI policy helps staff know what they can use AI for, and our page on AI training for HR teams is a good starting point for your own team.

IT leaders: Share usage data with HR and L&D so training goes where tools are underused. If you are rolling out Microsoft 365 Copilot, pair it with role-based Microsoft Copilot training so staff learn what it can and cannot do for their work.

Transformation leaders: Decide how you will know whether training is working before you start. Our guide to measuring AI training ROI covers setting a baseline and tracking time saved and quality afterwards.

A short checklist

1. Map usage. Ask who uses AI daily, who uses it occasionally and who has not started.
2. Close the training gap first. Prioritise the group with the least access to learning.
3. Teach checking. Make verifying AI output a normal step, with clear rules on when a person must review it.
4. Be open. Tell staff plainly how AI will and will not be used in their roles.
5. Review. Revisit usage and results every few weeks and update training as tools change.

What this means for your team

AI use at work is becoming routine for a growing share of staff, but PwC's survey suggests learning support has not kept pace. If your organisation has AI tools but uneven confidence, practical role-based training for the people who have not yet started is likely to do more than another round of advanced sessions for enthusiasts.

For more context, see our recent posts on why skills decide the return on AI adoption and the UK AI adoption survey 2026. You can also read about our corporate AI training and AI training in Leeds.

Talk to us

If you would like help building practical AI skills across your teams, book a free 60-minute discovery call with Qasim.