The split in how workers view AI is showing up in the Gallup results described by the Associated Press. While a growing share of employees report using AI tools in day-to-day work, the poll also shows increased worry that new technology could displace jobs.
Gallup’s workforce survey, conducted Feb. 4-19, 2026, asked employed adults in the United States about AI’s presence at work and how they personally respond. Roughly 3 in 10 employees said they use AI frequently in their jobs, defined as daily or a few times a week, while about 2 in 10 reported using it less often, such as a few times a month or a few times a year.
The poll also found that AI adoption by organizations is fairly widespread. About 4 in 10 workers said their organization has adopted AI tools or technology to improve organizational practices, and among those workers, about two-thirds said AI has had an “extremely” or “somewhat” positive impact on their individual productivity and efficiency.
Workers in management roles reported more favorable productivity effects than individual contributors, according to the AP report summarizing the Gallup findings. The survey said about 7 in 10 leaders using AI at least a few times a year described it as making them more efficient, compared with just over half of individual contributors.
The AP report included examples of why some employees are using AI. Social worker Scott Segal, 53, said he regularly uses AI to find information that helps connect elderly and vulnerable patients to health care resources in northern Virginia, while also emphasizing the importance of human connection in that care. Segal said, “I’m planning ahead,” and argued that workers in replaceable fields or trades should plan for the possibility of displacement.
Legal and workplace-professional examples also surfaced in the polling write-up. Labor and employment attorney Elizabeth Bloch said she uses ChatGPT to help “draft letters or emails in a diplomatic way” because she described her profession as adversarial, and she said she had concerns about other legal work being harmed by AI errors. Bloch said she tries AI for legal research but finds it prone to hallucinations, or making up false information, and she worried those issues could lead judges to sanction lawyers for false citations.
Gallup also found that job-related context may shape whether workers see benefit. The AP report said AI tools appear to have a greater benefit for workers in managerial, health care and technology roles than in service jobs, with about 6 in 10 employees in those fields reporting productivity boosts at least “somewhat,” compared with 45% of those using AI in service jobs.
Even when AI is available, Gallup found many employees still do not use it. The AP report said about half of U.S. employees use AI only once a year or not at all. For workers who do not use AI even when their company has made tools available, 46% said they prefer to keep doing their work the way they do it now, while about 4 in 10 non-users cited ethical opposition to AI, concerns about data privacy, or a belief that AI cannot be helpful for their work.
Among non-users who have access to AI, the AP report also described differences between those who have tried AI and those who have avoided it. It said about one-quarter of these non-users said they have used AI at work and do not find it helpful, and about 2 in 10 said they do not feel prepared to use AI effectively. A contract administrator in Maryland, Thuy Pisone, told the AP that she uses AI weekly for mundane tasks but avoids it for work she said she can already do well, adding that colleagues had suggested using AI to make PowerPoint slides.
The poll also points to rising anxiety about job loss tied to automation and AI. The AP report said 18% of U.S. workers said it is “very” or “somewhat” likely their current job will be eliminated within the next five years because of new technology, automation, robots or AI, up from 15% in 2025. Workers at companies that have adopted AI were even more likely to express concern, with 23% calling it at least “somewhat” likely.
As part of the overall picture, the AP report contrasted the Gallup findings with a separate Fox News poll cited in the story. That Fox News survey, conducted in March, found that about 6 in 10 registered voters believe AI will eliminate more jobs than it creates over the next five years, while only about 1 in 10 expect AI to create more positions.
Segal, the social worker in Virginia, told the AP about planning for a different future if AI replaces him. He said his alternative plan was to start a “health care chaperone service” that physically escorts patients between appointments, especially when they are sedated and lack family or others to pick them up. He also said he has been using AI chatbots to strategize on saving for retirement, while questioning what people will do for livelihood if AI displaces most employment functions.
The Gallup findings were drawn from Gallup Panel members, using a random sample of adults age 18 and older who work full time and part time for organizations in the United States. The AP report said the most recent survey included 23,717 employed U.S. adults and put the margin of sampling error at plus or minus 0.9 percentage points for all respondents.