Employees Are Bringing Their Own AI to Work Regardless of Company Support
New report from Microsoft and LinkedIn sheds light on the AI transformation of business
Microsoft’s 2024 Work Trend Index Report surveyed 31,000 people across 31 countries and uncovered new information related to AI adoption by business users. A key finding was that 75% of knowledge workers worldwide are already using generative AI. While some executives lament the slow uptake by workers of internally supplied generative AI solutions, they aren’t seeing the broader trend of shadow AI use.
The report found that 78% of knowledge workers bring their own AI (BYOAI) to work. For GenZ, the figure is 85%. However, even Baby Boomers are BYOAI at a rate of 73%. This suggests that the behavior is broad-based.
The implications of these findings are threefold:
Workers are clearly seeing benefits from using generative AI.
Companies that don’t successfully provide approved and integrated generative AI solutions are not fully accessing the potential value and are increasing risks that customer data or security issues will arise through unmonitored AI use.
The trend of worker use of AI will be hard to reverse.
Humans Will Find a Way
Humans are natural problem solvers. This is particularly true when it impacts their livelihoods. The report identified several generative AI adoption drivers that indicate generative AI has become the solution to a festering problem for knowledge workers.
Email overload is a continuing problem
68% of employees said they struggle with the pace and volume of work
69% say AI can help get them promoted faster, and 79% say AI skills broaden their
job opportunities
76% of people say they need AI skills to remain competitive in the job market
Whether or not employers are rolling out generative AI tools, the ease of access and tangible benefits of time savings and quality improvement are making the adoption inevitable.
Wherever there are words that need to be read, transformed, or created, you are likely to see generative AI adoption. Workers want to streamline their tasks, and AI is helping them get through work overload, which is often the result of information overload.
Employers Want Generative AI Skills
A final point on generative AI adoption in the enterprise. Employers are starting to preference candidates with AI skills. Microsoft found that 66% of business leaders would not hire someone without AI skills and that they intend to use the technology to augment the capabilities of early-career employees.
Whether it is to cope with high workloads, achieve more in their role, or simply look attractive to prospective employers, generative AI is becoming commonplace among knowledge workers. That adoption trend is very likely to expand and deepen.
The BYOAI trend is very interesting, thanks for sharing. It also opens up a market for upskilling folks teaching them AI literacy, even thought there is a wildfire of free courses available I find them incredibly limited. At the end of the day, I think the biggest barrier to AI adoption will be education.