Nearly two-thirds of workers have used AI at work in the past year. Yet fewer say they can get the training they need, PwC found in its 2026 Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey. The firm surveyed 49,364 workers across 48 countries and regions in May and June. It published the results on Tuesday.
In all, 64% of workers had used AI at work in the past 12 months, up 10 points on last year. The share using generative AI every day rose from 14% to 22%. But only 51% said they could access the learning and development resources they need, down from 59%.
Four groups of workers
PwC splits the workforce into four groups. “Front-runners” (14%) have scarce skills and strong AI abilities. “AI insurgents” (18%) have less scarce skills but use AI to do more. “Indispensables” (11%) have scarce skills but are not far along with AI.
The largest group, the “engine room” (56%), has neither scarce skills nor much AI experience. Only two in five of these workers said they could access the learning they need.
“They’re not getting the same access to learning. They’re not getting the opportunity to innovate. They are not getting to use AI in a meaningful way,” Peter Brown, PwC’s global workforce leader, told Business Insider.
Front-runners are 33 points more likely than average to ask for a promotion. Almost a third of them (29%) said they were very or extremely likely to change employer in the next year.
The groups rest partly on how workers rate their own skills and AI use, Business Insider noted. The survey does not establish the reasons behind their experiences.
Daily users feel more secure
Of workers who use AI daily, 68% said they were confident in their job security, against 57% of infrequent users. Daily users were also 15 points more likely to trust top management. They were 21 points more likely to feel sure they can learn new skills.
Workers named economic volatility (57%) more often than AI taking on more tasks (44%) as a risk to their jobs. Only a third said they had money left at the end of the month. And 27% said fatigue or burnout limited their productivity.
“There is a real risk that the global workforce is starting to move at different speeds,” Brown said in a statement.
PwC, which employs more than 360,000 people, is also changing its own workforce. It is hiring fewer consultants and accountants as it adopts AI. Other surveys this week found that two-thirds of finance teams use AI tools. UK employers, meanwhile, are wary of AI in hiring.
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