TL;DR

Nearly one UK worker in five now uses AI every working day, according to further results from the PwC UK Hopes and Fears study, which polled 2,023 people. Use is spreading down the hierarchy, but Britain still trails the global average. The awkward result for employers is that AI users say their output got better while many say their workload got heavier.

Adoption is climbing, slowly

Daily use rose four points in a year, to 19%. Across the past twelve months, 56% of the UK sample had tried AI in their jobs, against 47% two years ago and a global figure of 64%.

Use still rises steeply with seniority. Among UK senior executives, 85% have used it, as have 73% of managers. Non-managers sit at 35%, though that is an 11-point jump on last year and the fastest growth of any group. They remain 15 points below non-managers worldwide.

Better work, not less of it

Among those who use AI, seven in ten say the quality of their work has improved, 63% say they draw on more of their skills and 58% believe they now add more value. Yet 45% say their role has become more complex and 44% say there is more work to do.

Claire Reid, PwC UK’s chief innovation and technology officer, argues that the gain lies in redesign rather than volume. “The real prize isn’t just doing more work; it’s redesigning work so that people and AI together can deliver better outcomes,” she said.

Mood and friction

Feelings about AI are mostly positive. Asked how more AI in their jobs makes them feel, 70% said confident against 18% fearful, and 72% chose empowered over powerless (16%). UK senior executives compare well internationally: 69% report positive feelings, nine to 13 points above their peers abroad. Only 28% of non-managers feel confident, compared with 36% of their global counterparts.

Smaller groups report obstacles: 16% worry about consequences if they experiment, 13% say their employer restricts tools, the same share find their company’s AI policy confusing, and 12% want more training.

Context

An earlier PwC release from the same survey, which we covered on Wednesday, found that UK workers fear the economy more than AI.

Looking forward

The workload finding deserves attention from UK managers. PwC itself notes that more AI use “does not automatically mean an easier workload or job for employees”. In our view the cheapest fixes are in PwC’s own list of frictions: a clear AI policy, permission to experiment and basic training.