Artificial intelligence is helping millions of Americans work faster and more creatively, but new research suggests those benefits are reaching some workers far more than others, potentially creating another divide in the U.S. workplace.
A new study from Gallup found that 52% of employees who use AI at least weekly have what researchers classify as a quality job, compared with 32% of workers who never use AI. Gallup is a longstanding research and polling organization that conducts large-scale surveys to measure Americans’ opinions, experiences and behaviors on issues ranging from work and the economy to health and public affairs.
The differences extend well beyond job quality. College graduates are more than twice as likely as workers without a college degree to use AI daily or weekly—40% compared with 17%. Managers also use the technology more frequently, with 37% reporting regular AI use compared with 25% of individual contributors. Meanwhile, AI use remains particularly low in areas such as healthcare support, manufacturing production and retail sales.
Workers who do use AI are reporting substantial benefits. Among employees who have used the technology on the job, 63% said it helps them complete their work faster and 56% said it helps them find more creative solutions. Nearly half said AI helps them produce higher-quality work or spend more time on the parts of their jobs they find most interesting.
The findings come from the American Job Quality Study, a research partnership involving Gallup, Jobs for the Future and The Families & Workers Fund. Researchers caution that the results do not prove AI itself causes someone to have a better job. Instead, they reveal an important overlap: workers who already have greater education, higher-quality jobs or management positions are also more likely to have access to AI and use it regularly.
The Readovia Lens
AI may eventually transform nearly every corner of the workforce, but access to its benefits is already uneven. If workers in stronger positions receive more opportunities to learn and use AI while others remain on the sidelines, the technology could reinforce existing workplace gaps rather than help close them.
