A new Slack study has revealed a significant gap between the perceived urgency of adopting AI tools in the workplace, and the actual implementation of generative AI.
The figures also reveal that the UK leads the way in terms of urgency perception when compared to the US, with around three in five (61%) of British workers seeing a high or existential need to incorporate GenAI into work, compared with around two in five (44%) of American workers.
The study of around 10,000 global workers comes as ChatGPT celebrates its one-year public preview birthday. Since its launch, AI tools have been popping up everywhere in a bid to improve worker productivity.
The UK wants to use generative AI tools at work
Despite the expressed desire for such technologies, only one in five (19%) of UK employees have actually used AI tools at work, which Slack says is the lowest of all countries in the survey.
Similarly, fewer British workers said that AI tools have improved their productivity compared with other countries, including the US and Australia, however Slack noted that these figures are inherently less reliable because fewer workers have used the tools in the first place.
In recognition that AI tools can help make workers more productive, Slack also revealed some other key findings that affect how much work an employee can get done. The company says that two hours a day in meetings is the tipping point for workers.
The study also revealed that nearly half (45%) of UK and US workers rarely or never take breaks, with many workers considering the post-lunch slump between 3-6pm as unproductive.
Slack’s Head of UK & Ireland, Deirdre Byrne, said that once employees build trust to use AI tools, “it’s not just an AI revolution that we will live through, but a productivity revolution as well.”
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