A new survey reveals a striking “AI readiness gap” in the modern workplace: Those using AI tools the most—including top executives and Gen Z employees—are often the least likely to receive meaningful guidance, training, or even company approval for their use.
Gen Z approaches AI with both enthusiasm and anxiousness. A striking 62.6% have completed work using AI but pretended it was all their own effort—the highest rate among any generation.
More than half (55.4%) have feigned understanding of AI in meetings. Their behavior is context-dependent: 28.4% exaggerate their AI use to some, while 13.5% downplay it to others; it depends on whom they’re speaking with. But only 6.8% report receiving extensive, time-consuming AI training, and 13.5% received none at all. This is the lowest of any age group. Despite this, an overwhelming 89.2% use AI at work—and just as many (89.2%) use tools that weren’t provided or sanctioned by their employer. Only 7.5% reported receiving extensive training with AI tools. This is a strikingly small advance from 2024, when the same survey from WalkMe found 7.0% reported extensive training—just a 0.5% increase.
Sharon Bernstein, chief human resources officer for WalkMe, told Fortune in an interview, “Companies are not educating enough about this whole thing,” adding that they seem to not be facilitating use of AI tools. They “are not training their employees enough today, or guiding … Even if you are an amazing CIO, and you’re allowed to buy a few different tools for AI, how much was it adopted? Like, for real?”
Access to AI training and guidance increases with rank and company size. Only 3.7% of entry-level employees receive substantial training compared with 17.1% of C-level executives. Younger and junior staff remain unsupported—a gap that risks cementing an “AI class divide” where the most frequent users are left to navigate on their own.
AI is changing work, and the survey suggests not always for the better. Most employees (80%) say AI has improved their productivity, but 59% confess to spending more time wrestling with AI tools than if they’d just done the work themselves. Gen Z again leads the struggle, with 65.3% saying AI slows them down (the highest amount of any group), and 68% feeling pressure to produce more work because of it. Nearly one in three are deeply anxious about AI’s impact on their jobs, saying they worry “a lot” about this issue. Confidence is mixed: Only 45% of Gen Zers say they’re “very confident” using AI—less than millennials (56.3%), and nearly equal with Gen X (43.2%).
Another major study, the first of its kind in the field, came out from Stanford and top economist Erik Brynjolfsson, a thought leader in AI. His team found that since late 2022, when generative AI exploded onto the scene, there has been a statistically significant decline in entry-level hiring, in jobs directly exposed to AI automation. This means that mastery of AI tools will be hugely important for entry-level workers, and the WalkMe survey suggests they are getting the least amount of training.
Bernstein spoke from her perspective as an HR leader: “First of all, you want people not to fear to admit that they use it, right?” She urged companies to be transparent about how they are planning to use AI, to displace the fear that AI tools will replace workers, on the one hand, and to promote facility with using AI, on the other hand. “I don’t really think that we can literally replace employees,” she added. “Maybe in very specific positions, but in general, I think companies are now in a stage that they need to educate their team members about it.”
Worry about AI’s effect on jobs is intensifying: 44.8% of workers are worried, and the proportion “very worried” has spiked since last year. Gen Z feels this most acutely: 62.2% say they worry about AI’s impact, with 28.4% “very worried”—the highest rate across age groups. Stress levels are up for 27% of Gen Z, the highest of any generation. Yet hope persists: 89.6% want to learn more about AI, and 86% believe AI proficiency is critical for career success.
The findings point to an urgent need for employers to bridge the AI readiness gap, offering clear guidance, comprehensive training, and transparent policies. Those on the leading edge of AI adoption—whether in the boardroom or among Gen Z—need support, not secrecy. As tools proliferate and expectations rise, organizations risk eroding trust, productivity, and emotional well-being unless this issue is addressed head-on.
For this story, Fortune used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing.
