Study indicates Britain's workforce is winging it with AI in the workplace - nearly 70% of surveyed employees using AI are experimenting

The study found that while 44% of employees polled are now using AI tools at work in some form, the way they are doing so reveals a deeply informal skills landscape. Among those using AI, nearly seven in ten (70%) say they are simply experimenting with tools in their daily work, yet fewer than one in five (19%) have actively taken any AI training or courses. A further 30% are learning through informal tip-sharing with colleagues, rather than structured development. 

Business decision-makers are only marginally ahead. Across HR and business leaders surveyed, 68% are similarly in experimentation mode, with just 32% engaged in formal training, suggesting that the informal approach to AI skills is a cultural pattern. 

Perhaps the most striking revelation is that employees are largely unaware of their own exposure. Despite the majority having received no formal AI education, just 3% cite lacking the skills to work with AI as their biggest workplace fear, pointing to a gap not just in capability, but in self-awareness. The risks of unchecked AI use including errors, misapplication, and accountability gaps are therefore largely invisible to those most exposed to them. 

Caroline Fanning, Chief Employee Success Officer, The Access Group 

"The data is telling us something important: employees aren't resistant to AI - they're enthusiastic but navigating genuinely new territory. And so are the leaders responsible for supporting them. 

What matters is that businesses respond with structure, guidance and a genuine will to educate. At Access, we've committed to that by building a learning ecosystem where skill development is continuous, personalised, and directly linked to career aspirations. 

Because an AI-ready workforce isn't built by accident. It's built by investing in people at every level - from the front line to the boardroom. The organisations that will thrive won't be those with the most advanced AI tools. They'll be the ones whose people know how to use them with confidence and accountability - supported by an HR function acting as the architects of future-ready businesses." 

At Access, this commitment is already in action. Since July, the company has launched over ten AI learning programmes - spanning Claude and Copilot 101s, Prompt Engineering, AI change management for engineering tracks, leadership AI adoption, alongside 119 AI apprenticeships, giving every employee an AI role-relevant path to becoming Future Ready. 

The research also highlights a significant non-adopter population that risks being left behind. More than one in four employees (26%) say they have no plans to use AI at all, while a further 8% are only in AI pilot programmes not yet accessible to them.  

As AI reshapes workflows and job requirements, those who have not yet engaged face a growing disadvantage, and many may not receive the support they need. Just 33% of employees called for government-backed retraining support as AI changes the nature of jobs, despite nearly four in ten not currently using the technology. 

When asked what would most increase their confidence in using AI at work, employees pointed to practical reassurance over technical solutions. Job security guarantees (18%) and proof that AI would make their job easier, not harder (9%), ranked above formal training (7%) suggesting that confidence barriers are rooted in trust as much as skill. Understanding what AI can and cannot do (8%) also featured, pointing to a fundamental literacy gap that access to tools alone cannot address. 

On the employer side, the priority use cases for AI within HR are clear: 44% of business leaders want AI to reduce time spent on routine administration, while 34% are looking for faster access to insights from people data. Yet without a workforce that understands how to use AI tools effectively, those ambitions risk going unrealised.