Half of American Workers Still Don't Use AI (Here's Why That Matters)

Think you're behind on AI adoption? Think everyone else has it figured out?

If so, new data suggests you’re not alone.

Gallup's Q4 2025 workplace survey reveals a striking reality check: 49% of U.S. workers report they “never” use AI at work. Twelve percent use it daily. And only 38% of employees say their organization has actually integrated AI technology to improve productivity, efficiency and quality.

For anyone feeling overwhelmed by the pace of AI change, this is validation that you’re not on an island If you have invested in building real AI fluency, your competitive advantage is real and strong.

I talked through what these survey results mean for the workforce with SmarterX and Marketing AI Institute founder and CEO Paul Roetzer on Episode 195 of The Artificial Intelligence Show.

What the Numbers Reveal

Gallup identified and quantified three distinct groups and organizational integration: 

• Daily AI users: 12% (up from 10% a year ago)
• Frequent AI users (few times a week): 26% (up 3%)
• No AI usage at all: 49%
• Organizations that have integrated AI: 38%
  

The adoption gap by role is even more striking. Workers in remote-capable positions, those that can be completed remotely, if needed, showed 66% total AI adoption compared to just 32% in non-remote roles. Leaders use AI at substantially higher rates than individual contributors: 69% vs. 40%.

"It's wild," says Roetzer. "Thirty-eight percent of employees say their organization is integrated with technology. I think it's easy to feel behind. It's easy to think that every other business, every other professional, has AI figured out. And what we find time and time again is that is not correct."

Just Using AI Isn't Enough

Here's the thing about that 26% who report using AI "a few times a week": Most of them aren't doing anything sophisticated.

“Most of the people that are saying ‘Yes, we use it,’ they're just using them as pure chatbots and answer engines, and they're not actually doing the most interesting stuff," Roetzer says.

“Go ask those same people: ‘Have you ever run a deep research project? Have you ever tried agent mode? Have you ever built a video?’" Roetzer notes.

The gap between basic adoption and genuine AI fluency is massive. But it’s also where the opportunity lives.

What This Means If You're Ahead

For those who have invested in building real AI capability, the Gallup data is affirming.

"For people who are on the frontier, this is just more validation that you have a wonderful runway ahead of you to build businesses, to build careers," says Roetzer.

"The rest of the world is nowhere close to where you think they are in terms of understanding this stuff and truly integrating it into their workflows."

The upside is that nearly half of workers still have the opportunity to adopt and use AI in a meaningful way. It’s an opportunity to truly transform the workforce.