AI Use at Work Hits 64%, but Training Access Falls to 51%

Some 64% of workers used AI at work in the past 12 months, up 10 percentage points year over year, yet only 51% say they have access to the learning and development resources they need — down from 59% a year earlier. Those figures come from PwC's 2026 Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey, which polled 50,000 workers across 48 countries and regions.

Daily use of generative AI is climbing fast too, rising from 14% to 22% in a single year. Adoption is spreading; capability is not keeping pace.

Who Is Falling Behind?

PwC segments the workforce into groups, and the starkest numbers sit in the middle. The firm's "Engine Room" — 56% of respondents, whose skills PwC deems less scarce and who sit further back on the AI learning curve — handles much of the day-to-day work inside organisations. Yet only two in five of these workers say they can access the learning and development they need.

These employees are also less likely to report being rewarded for learning new skills, using AI or challenging established ways of working.

At the other end sit PwC's Front-runners, 14% of the workforce, combining scarce skills with stronger AI capabilities. The contrast in outcomes is sharp:

• Front-runners are 1.5 times more likely than the global average to say they are rewarded for challenging existing ways of working.
• They are 1.2 times more likely to say they are rewarded for learning new skills.
• They are 33 percentage points more likely to ask for a promotion.
• Almost 29% say they are very or extremely likely to change employer within the next year.

For an individual worker, the market position implied here is concrete: if your role involves scarce skills plus hands-on AI capability, you face rising confidence and rising mobility. If it does not, your access to the training that could close the gap is shrinking.

"There is a real risk that the global workforce is starting to move at different speeds," said Pete Brown, Global Workforce Leader at PwC. "More than half of workers are not yet benefiting from AI and skills in the same way, while those with scarce skills and strong AI capabilities are becoming more confident and more mobile."

What Does Daily AI Use Change?

The survey draws a clear line between frequent and infrequent users. Among daily AI users, 68% expressed confidence in their job security, versus 57% of infrequent users. Daily users were also:

• 12 percentage points more likely to ask for a promotion
• 15 points more likely to trust top management
• 21 points more likely to feel confident they can learn new skills

Workers who expect their AI use to grow over the next 12 months described themselves as energised and empowered rather than tired and powerless by a margin of 5:1.

These are associations, not proof of cause. Access to AI may simply reflect differences in role, existing skills, employer support or the type of work performed — so the figures describe who is thriving, not necessarily what produces the effect.

Where the Pressure Lands

The strain extends beyond the technology function. Across the workforce, 40% said they had needed to apply new skills to a large or very large extent over the past year, with senior executives and managers more likely to report this than non-managers and entry-level workers. Among workers who experienced workplace change, 58% said the last year brought more change than previous years, and 27% said fatigue or burnout limits their productivity.

Why Tool Access Isn't Enough

For employers, the survey raises a harder question: what happens after the tools ship?

"Access to AI tells you very little on its own," said Richard Matthews, Senior Solution Consulting Director at Nexthink. "The organisations that get lasting value will be the ones that understand how their people are actually working with it, where it is helping and where it is creating friction, and then direct their support accordingly."

Matthews added that organisations operating in the dark will see the benefits stay locked up with a small minority, while the majority work it out for themselves.

If AI capability and development stay concentrated in a narrow group, companies may post strong results from individual teams without building the broader skills base that changes how work gets done across the business — while the employees benefiting most gain the confidence, and the freedom, to take those skills elsewhere. The challenge, as Brown frames it, is developing the fast movers "but not at the expense of the rest of the workforce."