AI use is ‘happening in silence’ amid lack of training, survey finds

Posted by News Room 25 November 2025
AI use is ‘happening in silence’ amid lack of training, survey finds

Dive Brief:

  • Even as 80% of U.S. employees use artificial intelligence at work, 57% say they’re reluctant to tell their manager or colleagues they do, according to results of a survey by software company Cornerstone OnDemand Inc., released Wednesday. 
  • However, rather than being driven by embarrassment, shame or fear of job loss, workers are staying silent because they lack training, the survey found. 
  • Only 44% of U.S. employees have received AI training, and just 16% received that training often. At the same time, 65% of U.S. workers said they want training to help build their AI skills and confidence. Dynata conducted the survey in October and polled 1,000 U.S.-based consumers.

Dive Insight:

Nearly two-thirds of U.S. workers say their organizations encourage them to use AI at work, yet a third of those don’t receive training, the survey found. 

“Heavy investment in AI tools alone [is] not the answer, as training and governance systems are critical to success,” Mike Bollinger, vice president of strategic initiatives at Cornerstone, said in a statement. “This survey validates employees’ desires for training, particularly on AI, but shows significant discrepancies on who is receiving it and the key alignments that need to take place across an organization.”

A leadership divide in AI use is developing, and workers are being left behind, an October Perceptyx report found. While 82% of executives and 68% of managers said they use AI, only 35% of individual contributors said they do. Likewise, 84-90% of managers and executives said that they need to develop new skills due to AI, but only 67% of individual contributors said the same, which could be a further indication of the growing gap. 

More than half of companies said they don’t have the resources to train employees to use AI effectively, according to an October report from Express Employment Professionals and Harris Poll.

Meanwhile, half of workers may have undergone some training in the past year, but only 12% received training on AI, a February Pew Research Center report found.