Future of Work Will Require AI Skills Mastery, But Only 7% Are Proficient

Experts believe the future of work will be transformed by how well workers can utilize artificial intelligence (AI) to increase their productivity, but new data shows only a small portion of knowledge workers are effectively doing so. 

Section, a business school with a particular focus on AI skills training, reveals that only 7% of the knowledge workforce, defined as the “AI Class,” are effectively leveraging AI to boost productivity. 

This small group saves up to 30% of their time each week by integrating AI into their daily tasks and they typically have three or more use cases for AI.  

Interestingly, 99% of the AI class also use paid versions of AI tools. Proficient AI workers are found to be 25% more productive than the workers that are not effectively using AI tools, and they save up to 12 hours of their workweek.  

The study identified four distinct groups based on their AI usage:  

• AI Class (7%) 
• AI Experimenters (25%)  
• AI Newcomers (57%)  
• AI Skeptics (11%)  

“The majority of professionals have barely played around with AI, even though our data shows it can save workers up to 12 hours a week,” said Greg Shove, CEO of Section. “This should be an issue of top concern to organizations, particularly those looking to cancel LLM contracts because of low ROI. The tool isn’t the problem – it’s your adoption strategy.” 

The findings also highlight how important AI upskilling programs and enthusiastic company policies are in improving AI proficiency across the global workforce. Almost all of the workers in the AI Class (96%) are part of companies with clear AI guidelines and active deployment strategies — compared to just 39% of AI Skeptics. Only 2% of workers who received formal AI training remained a Skeptic. 

A good starting point for employers designing or offering upskilling programs to improve AI proficiency is to focus on learning and teaching effective prompting skills. The study found a clear connection between prompting skills and the benefits derived from AI, and the optimism towards its use in the workplace.  

The AI Class, representing the top 8% in prompting skills, significantly outperforms AI skeptics, who comprise the bottom 4%. This difference in skill greatly influences the future of work, as those who are proficient in prompting AI are better positioned to experience productivity gains.  

Section’s findings come at a time when employers around the world are still cautiously moving towards the integration of AI technologies. Workers, on the other hand, are typically more willing to learn and incorporate AI into their workflows — even if their company doesn’t have an official AI policy. That said, it will be a combined effort from employees and employers to maximize AI’s potential.