Artificial intelligence is becoming an increasingly common part of employees' working lives. According to the latest Gallup survey from the fourth quarter of 2025, 12% of workers now use AI daily, up from the previous 10%. Frequent users, meaning those who use AI at least several times a week, account for 26% of employees—three percentage points more than before.
This trend continues the gradual growth that began in 2023. Interestingly, the overall number of AI users remained stable in the fourth quarter after sharp increases in the preceding months of 2025. Nearly half of American workers (49%) still report that they "never" use AI in their work.
Gradual Integration of AI Technologies
Regarding corporate adoption of artificial intelligence, the situation did not change significantly compared to the previous quarter. In the fourth quarter, 38% of employees said their organization had integrated AI technologies to improve productivity, efficiency, and quality. By contrast, 41% of employees confirmed that their company had not introduced AI tools, while 21% said they did not know.
AI use varies significantly by industry. It is most widespread in knowledge-based fields and least common in production and service sectors. Employees in technology, finance, and higher education report the highest rates of AI use. In the technology sector, overall AI use stands at 77%, with 57% of employees using it frequently and 31% daily. Colleges and universities report a 63% usage rate, while finance stands at 64%. Professional services have an overall AI usage rate of 62%, including 36% frequent users and 16% daily users.
At the opposite end of the spectrum is retail, with just 33% overall AI use, including 19% frequent users and 10% daily users. Healthcare and manufacturing are at around 41-43% overall use.
In the fourth quarter, growth in AI use was uneven. Finance and professional services recorded the largest increases in their overall user bases—by six and five percentage points, respectively. In retail, overall AI use did not increase between the third and fourth quarters, while manufacturing recorded a three-point increase. In industries such as technology, where AI use is most widespread, growth in the overall number of users is beginning to level off. Overall AI use in technology rose by just one percentage point in the fourth quarter, from 76% to 77%, while frequent use increased from 50% to 57%.
Office Roles Dominate AI Use
Across all industries, AI use is concentrated in roles that employees describe as remote-capable—that is, jobs that can reasonably be performed remotely regardless of where the employee actually works. These are typically office-based positions.
Since the second quarter of 2023, overall AI use among employees in remote-capable roles has increased from 28% to 66%, while frequent use has risen from 13% to 40%. Growth was slower in positions that cannot be performed remotely: AI use in these roles increased from 15% to 32%, while frequent use rose from 8% to 17%.
Modest gains in frequent AI use were recorded in the fourth quarter of 2025, consistent with the growth seen in the third quarter. However, the percentage of employees who report using AI overall remained stable. Use remains most widespread in knowledge-based industries and remote-capable roles.
Gallup's research shows that a lack of usefulness is the most common barrier to individual AI use, suggesting that clear AI use cases may be more apparent to executives than to employees in other roles. For organizations integrating AI technologies, this highlights the importance of basing AI adoption decisions on a clear understanding of how AI can be applied across different roles and functions, not just among those closest to decision-making.
Executives Are Ahead
Employees in executive positions use AI at work more often than managers and individual contributors. In the fourth quarter, 69% of executives said they used AI at least several times a year, compared with 55% of managers and 40% of individual contributors. Part of this difference likely reflects the type of role, as executives are more likely to hold office-based and remote-capable positions where AI tools can be applied more easily.
Executives also report using AI more frequently than other employees, and this gap has widened over time. Since the second quarter of 2023, frequent AI use among executives has increased from 17% to 44%. Over the same period, frequent use among managers doubled from 15% to 30%, while among individual contributors it rose from 9% to 23%.
