The data is in, and it's official: 2024 is the year AI at work gets real. The use of generative AI has nearly doubled in the last six months, with a staggering 75% of global knowledge workers now leveraging this technology. Employees, overwhelmed by the pace and volume of work, are increasingly bringing their own AI tools to the office. This grassroots adoption underscores a significant shift in the workplace, as leaders recognize AI as a business imperative. Yet, many organizations still lack a comprehensive plan to harness AI's full potential, stalling broader business transformation.
The trajectory of AI adoption mirrors past tech disruptions, such as the internet and personal computers. Just as these technologies required broad adoption to drive business transformation, AI is poised to do the same. Companies that strategically apply AI to drive growth, manage costs, and deliver greater value to customers will inevitably pull ahead.
The labor market is also set to shift dramatically, with AI playing a pivotal role. Despite fears of job loss, there's a reported talent shortage for key roles. As employees consider career moves, managers are beginning to value AI aptitude as much as experience. For many, AI will raise the bar and break the career ceiling.
To help leaders and organizations overcome AI inertia, Microsoft and LinkedIn conducted a comprehensive study involving 31,000 people across 31 countries. They identified labor and hiring trends from LinkedIn, analyzed trillions of Microsoft 365 productivity signals, and conducted research with Fortune 500 customers. The findings offer critical insights and actionable steps for leaders and professionals regarding AI's implications for work.
AI is already being woven into the workplace at an unexpected scale. A whopping 75% of knowledge workers use AI at work, with 46% of them having started in the past six months. The benefits are clear: users report that AI helps them save time (90%), focus on their most important work (85%), be more creative (84%), and enjoy their work more (83%). For instance, the heaviest Teams users summarized eight hours of meetings using Copilot in March, equivalent to an entire workday.
Despite recognizing AI as a necessity, leaders are moving slowly due to the pressure to show immediate ROI. While 79% of leaders agree that their company needs to adopt AI to stay competitive, 59% worry about quantifying the productivity gains of AI. This uncertainty is stalling vision, with 60% of leaders concerned that their organization lacks a plan and vision to implement AI.
Without guidance from the top, employees are taking matters into their own hands, with 78% of AI users bringing their own AI tools to work (BYOAI). This trend is even more common at small and medium-sized companies (80%). Interestingly, BYOAI cuts across all generations, not just Gen Z. However, 52% of AI users are reluctant to admit using it for their most important tasks, and 53% worry that it makes them look replaceable.
This approach means missing out on the benefits of strategic AI use at scale and puts company data at risk. Cybersecurity and data privacy are top concerns for leaders in the year ahead. Another driver of BYOAI is the accelerated pace of work, with 68% of people struggling to keep up and 46% feeling burned out. Email overload persists, with 85% of emails read in under 15 seconds, and the typical person having to read about four emails for every one they send. Meetings and after-hours work remain high, with users spending 60% of their time on communication and only 40% on creation apps like Word and PowerPoint.
Experts highlight that different kinds of thinking are supported by distinct but interacting neural networks in the brain. Constant switching between tasks hampers productivity. AI can help liberate workers from menial tasks, enabling innovation and creativity to flourish.
As AI use surges, leaders who are "extremely familiar" with AI see its potential to be as transformational as the shift from typewriters to computers. Within the next five years, 41% of these leaders expect to redesign business processes from the ground up with AI. They also anticipate orchestrating and training a team of AI bots (42%) and ensuring the ethical use of AI (47%) as core parts of their jobs.
The data is clear: people are overwhelmed with digital debt and under duress at work, turning to AI for relief. The opportunity for leaders is to channel this momentum into ROI.
AI is also beginning to impact the job market. While concerns about job loss due to AI persist, the data offers a more nuanced view. There's a hidden talent shortage, with 55% of leaders worried about filling key roles in the year ahead. This concern is particularly high in cybersecurity, engineering, and creative design. Meanwhile, 46% of professionals are considering quitting in the year ahead, higher than the 40% who said the same ahead of 2021's Great Reshuffle. In the US, there's been a 14% increase in job applications per role since last fall, with 85% of professionals considering a new job this year.
Leaders have already made a significant push for technical AI talent, with hiring up 323% in the past eight years. Now, they're turning their sights to non-technical talent with AI aptitude. A significant 66% of leaders say they wouldn't hire someone without AI skills, and 71% would prefer a less experienced candidate with AI skills over a more experienced one without them. Junior candidates may have a new edge, with 77% of leaders saying early-in-career talent will be given greater responsibilities due to AI.
Companies must renegotiate the "operational contract" with employees as AI puts more power into their hands. However, many leaders are missing the value of developing their own people. A surprising 45% of US executives are not currently investing in AI tools or products for employees, and only 39% of global AI users have received AI training from their company. Only 25% of companies plan to offer training on generative AI this year, further cementing this training deficit.
Professionals aren't waiting for official guidance or training—they're skilling up on their own. A significant 76% say they need AI skills to remain competitive in the job market, and 69% believe AI can help them get promoted faster. In the past six months, the use of LinkedIn Learning courses designed to build AI aptitude has spiked 160% among non-technical professionals. There's also been a 142x increase in LinkedIn members globally adding AI skills like ChatGPT and Copilot to their profiles, with writers, designers, and marketers topping the list.
For the vast majority of people, AI isn't replacing their job but transforming it. Their next job might be a role that doesn't exist yet. Globally, skills are projected to change by 50% by 2030, and generative AI is expected to accelerate this change to 68%. More than two-thirds of this year's LinkedIn's Jobs on the Rise didn't exist 20 years ago. A new role, Head of AI, is emerging as a must-have leadership position, having tripled over the past five years and grown by more than 28% in 2023.
AI is going mainstream, and creative professionals are skilling up fast. LinkedIn job posts that mention AI have seen 17% greater application growth over the past two years. Offering AI access could help companies attract top talent, with 54% of early-in-career employees saying that access to AI would influence their choice of employer. Future-looking organizations are already taking action, with many offering AI learning opportunities to drive transformation at scale.
AI power users provide a window into the future, revealing what's possible when employees embrace new ways of working and leaders lean in. Power users are familiar with AI, using it at work at least several times a week and saving more than 30 minutes a day. They report that AI makes their overwhelming workload more manageable (92%), boosts their creativity (92%), and helps them focus on the most important work (93%). They also feel more motivated (91%) and enjoy work more (91%).
The path to becoming a power user starts with developing new habits. Power users frequently experiment with different ways of using AI, pause before a task to consider if AI can help, and keep trying if they don't get the perfect response the first time. They also bookend their day with AI, using it to start and end the workday.
Power users have reoriented their work patterns in fundamental ways, using AI to catch up on missed meetings, analyze information, design visual content, interact with customers, and brainstorm or problem-solve. They're already moving past individual tasks, redesigning their business processes and workflows with AI.
The research shows that power users are empowered by a different kind of organization. At their companies, senior leaders lean in, company culture is change-ready, and tailored training is provided. These organizations encourage innovation and provide ongoing training on AI use cases specific to roles and functions.
The opportunity ahead for leaders is to channel employee enthusiasm for AI into business transformation. This will look different for every organization, but the key steps include identifying a business problem and applying AI, taking a top-down and bottom-up approach, and prioritizing training.
We've arrived at a pivotal moment for AI at work. Just as we look back at the pre-PC era, we'll one day wonder how work got done without AI. Already, AI is helping people be more creative and productive, and giving job seekers an edge. Over time, it will change every aspect of work. Companies that face the challenge head-on will surge ahead. In this moment, fortune favors the bold.