Key takeaways
- AI use is widespread but unstructured – 8 in 10 employees use AI regularly, yet most don’t share that use with peers or managers due to unclear policies and guidance.
- Culture and training are not keeping up – Despite growing top-down encouragement, most organizations lack defined expectations, role-based learning, and manager support.
- Intentional enablement is the next frontier – To move from silent experimentation to scalable impact, organizations must build AI fluency into everyday workflows, learning, and collaboration.
AI is already part of everyday work
Organizations are rapidly transforming with AI, embedding it into core workflows and digital strategies. What was once a future-forward experiment is now a daily reality.
According to new research from Cornerstone, 8 in 10 employees in the U.S. and U.K. report using AI tools in some form. From drafting reports to summarizing meetings and managing data, AI helps employees work faster. More than half use these tools at least weekly. 57% of U.S. workers and 51% of U.K. workers say they rely on AI to streamline their day-to-day tasks.
But while usage is high, visibility is low. Most employees don’t talk about how they use AI, and most companies haven’t created space to do so.
People are using AI, but not talking about it
Here’s the paradox: Employees are confident in using AI, but they’re not sharing how or when they do. In both the U.S. and U.K., more than half of workers (57% and 52%, respectively) say they rarely or never tell their managers or colleagues they’re using AI.
Interestingly, this silence doesn’t stem from stigma or shame. Confidence is actually strong. 76% of U.S. employees and 38% of U.K. employees say they use AI tools without concern about being judged. Many are even encouraged to use AI by their employers: 64% of U.S. workers and 38% of U.K. workers say their organization supports AI experimentation.
So, if people feel confident and supported, why the silence? The answer lies in uncertainty.
The root problem: Confidence without clarity
The silence isn’t about shame, it’s about structure. Or rather, the lack of it.
Employees are moving faster than their organizations. They’re experimenting with tools to speed up work and unlock efficiencies, but often without training, policy guidance, or a clear sense of what's acceptable or secure.
In the U.S., 44% of employees report having received no training on AI tools. In the U.K., that number is 35%. Even among those who have received some education, only 16% of U.S. and 8% of U.K. employees say they’ve had access to regular, structured learning on how to use AI effectively and responsibly.
That absence of structure creates a confidence gap. People might feel capable of using AI tools, but without clear guidance, they hesitate to share, scale, or even fully adopt what they’ve learned.
A quiet revolution of experimentation
Many organizations are delivering top-down mandates to embed AI into ways of working. There also seems to be a bottom-up movement of widespread, yet disconnected experimentation. The challenge is the lack of structure and intentionality connecting the two.
Without that bridge, small successes stay isolated. Learnings aren’t shared. Value isn’t captured. And promising innovations fail to scale. This is the next frontier of workplace transformation: moving from silent adoption to open, guided collaboration. When employees know what’s expected, by giving employees structure, skill, and space to learn, organizations can replace hesitation with trust and turn quiet experimentation into measurable progress. AI has already changed how people work. Now it’s time to change how we talk about it.
It’s not enough to let innovation happen organically. It needs to be guided, reinforced, and amplified through the right systems, conversations, and skill development.
Training and culture lag behind usage
This disconnect is further compounded by the gap between how fast AI is being adopted and how slowly organizational culture is adapting to support it.
What’s missing?
- Clear expectations: Without defined use policies, employees are unsure what’s allowed, encouraged, or off-limits.
- Consistent language: Teams lack a shared vocabulary to talk about AI tools, capabilities, and risks.
- Contextual skill building: Employees aren’t receiving learning that’s specific to their roles or workflows, which limits relevance and adoption.
- Difficult procurement processes: While some organizations have mandates to “use more AI,” they also have slow, complex, or unclear processes for getting tools approved or integrated.
- Manager support: Many managers don’t feel equipped to guide AI use, making it harder for teams to share or scale their efforts.
These cultural and capability gaps lead to public hesitation, even among confident users.
From disconnected efforts to organizational AI fluency
To move from scattered efforts to sustainable impact, organizations, not just employees, must build AI fluency.
That means embedding AI knowledge, use cases, and feedback loops into the everyday flow of work. It also means making AI adoption a team sport, where people feel empowered to share what’s working, ask questions, and build new capabilities together.
Here’s how leaders can start:
- Offer role-based AI learning pathways with clear progression
- Host cross-functional AI demos or showcases to share successes
- Encourage workflow audits to identify where AI can help
- Provide guidance on responsible use and AI budgets
- Simplify tool approvals and on-boarding
- Embed feedback loops so employees can report what tools are working and what’s not
It’s not about top-down control or hands-off autonomy. It’s about coordinated collaboration, with the right balance of structure and flexibility.
Cornerstone helps you move to an AI culture
Cornerstone is helping organizations bridge the gap by connecting innovation with intention. Cornerstone Galaxy, our workforce development platform, helps you build enterprise-wide AI fluency by:
- Delivering personalized learning journeys aligned to roles and functions
- Enabling safe, skill-building environments to test AI tools
- Creating communities of practice and surfacing lessons learned across teams
- Embedding AI adoption into career development and performance conversations
The bottom line: AI use is high, but structure, training, and communication are lagging
This survey shows that AI is already a part of everyday work for most employees. But it’s happening quietly, without consistent guidance, without shared language, and without the culture or training to support it at scale.
The result? A disconnect between how much AI is being used and how much value organizations are capturing.
To close that gap, organizations need to move from passive adoption to intentional enablement. That means giving employees the skills, context, and support to apply AI effectively, and building systems that make experimentation visible, shareable, and safe.
For more details on the survey findings, read the full press release.
For practical steps to strengthen your AI strategy, explore our guide: Translating AI's Promise into Results: A Practical Guide for HR Leaders.
