AI boosts productivity for many U.S. workers, but advantages skew toward educated managers

The American Job Quality Study, conducted between January and March by Gallup, Jobs for the Future and The Families & Workers Fund, reveals that U.S. employees who employ artificial intelligence at work experience notable gains, with 63% citing faster task completion and 56% noting more creative solutions. Nearly half say AI lets them focus on the most interesting aspects of their jobs and improves work quality. Yet usage is uneven: college graduates use AI daily or weekly at a rate of 40%, versus 17% of those without a degree, and 37% of managers versus 25% of non-managerial staff.

Regular users are markedly more likely to report benefits such as speed (79% vs 37%), creativity (67% vs 39%) and higher-quality output (59% vs 26%). Molly Blankenship of Jobs for the Future emphasized that the disparity mirrors broader job-quality gaps and called for broader access to AI tools to enhance overall work satisfaction.