More U.S. workers who already use artificial intelligence leaned on it more often late last year, even as overall adoption stopped growing.
That’s the key takeaway from Gallup’s latest workplace AI report, which shows small but steady gains in frequent use during the fourth quarter of 2025 — alongside a flattening in how many employees use AI at all.
U.S. employees who use AI daily rose from 10% to 12% in Q4. Workers who use AI at least a few times a week climbed to 26%, up three points from the previous quarter.
At the same time, the share of workers who use AI at least a few times a year didn’t budge. Nearly half of U.S. employees, 49%, say they never use AI at work.
That split helps explain why AI can feel both everywhere and nowhere at once.
Organizations hold steady on AI rollout
Gallup found little change in how organizations approach AI overall.
In Q4, 38% of employees said their organization has integrated AI to improve productivity, efficiency, or quality. About 41% said their workplace hasn’t adopted AI tools, while 21% said they don’t know.
Those numbers closely match results from the prior quarter, suggesting many employers have paused large-scale rollouts for now.
Industry gaps keep widening
AI use remains highest in knowledge-based fields and lowest in hands-on service and production work.
Technology leads all industries, with 77% of employees using AI in some form. More than half of those workers use it frequently, and nearly a third use it daily. Finance, higher education, and professional services also report high adoption levels.
Retail sits at the bottom. Only 33% of retail workers report any AI use, and fewer than one in five use it frequently.
Growth also varied in Q4. Finance and professional services posted the biggest gains, while retail saw no increase at all. Manufacturing ticked up slightly but still trails office-heavy industries.
In sectors where AI already runs hot, like technology, growth now comes mostly from heavier use by existing users, not new adopters.
Remote-capable roles drive adoption
Where the job can be done matters just as much as the industry.
Employees in roles that could reasonably be done remotely report far higher AI use than those in jobs that require being on-site. Since mid-2023, AI use in remote-capable roles has jumped from 28% to 66%.
In non-remote-capable roles, use has grown more slowly, rising from 15% to 32%.
The gap shows no sign of closing.
Leaders pull further ahead
Leaders continue to outpace everyone else when it comes to AI.
In Q4, 69% of leaders said they use AI at work, compared with 55% of managers and 40% of individual contributors. Leaders also use AI more often, with frequent use climbing to 44%.
Gallup notes that lack of clear utility remains the biggest barrier for many employees. Leaders may see more obvious use cases, especially in planning, analysis, and communication-heavy work.
What it all means
Gallup’s data point to a workforce where AI use is deepening but not spreading evenly.
Knowledge workers, remote-capable roles, and leaders keep pulling ahead. Other roles lag behind, slowing overall adoption numbers even as frequent use rises.
For organizations, the message is clear. AI strategies work best when they focus on practical, role-specific use cases — not just tools adopted by those closest to decision-making.
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