- The total number of AI users is actually stable, according to a major new report
- Regular users are up slightly, indicating more use cases
- Companies are also focusing on strengthening their databases
A new study from Gallup claims that AI adoption may actually be stagnating after an initial burst of enthusiasm, with daily AI use increasing by just two percentage points in the fourth quarter of 2025 and frequent AI use increasing by three percentage points quarter-over-quarter.
In fact, the report found that the overall number of AI users has remained stable and half (49%) of U.S. workers say they never use AI in their role.
The numbers also highlight industry biases, with technology, financial and professional users most likely to use AI, as well as educational institutions such as colleges, universities and K-12.
How many workers actually use AI?
The biggest increase came from so-called “remote” roles, or those that are office-based, which more than doubled from 28% in 2023 to 66% in 2025. Non-remote roles appear to be about two years behind, at 32%.
Gallup also found that executives (69%) and managers (55%) are more likely to use AI than individual contributors (40%).
But more importantly, there is a clear difference between deployment and actual usage. A separate new study from Hitachi Vantara found that most companies (98%) are using, piloting or exploring AI, suggesting they may be investing blindly without identifying real use cases.
Poor configurations are also likely preventing businesses from getting the ROI they hope for, with 95% of organizations seeing no return on their generative AI investments due to infrastructure gaps.
Only 42% consider themselves data mature, even though high-quality data has been identified as the main factor for AI success.
“AI succeeds when the data behind it is trustworthy, well-governed and resilient,” commented Sheila Rohra, CEO of Hitachi Vantara.
Looking ahead, both reports suggest that existing workers will rely on AI more often before more workers embrace the technology, with clear use cases driving adoption more than wasted investment. The Hitachi Vantara report goes even further, saying trust, security and governance must also be a key priority to allay fears of breaches and leaks, unreliable results and regulatory risks.
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