How many workers use AI tools their employer did not provide, and how many hide it?
Half to three quarters of workers who use AI use at least some tools their employer did not provide, and most of them also use approved tools. About half are reluctant to tell their manager or have avoided revealing their AI use.
- Medium confidence
- 3 primary sources
- 2024 to 2025
- Last checked
Every study on one scale
Chart values as text
- Scale: % of AI users using tools their employer did not provide. Shaded range: 50–78%.
- Microsoft and LinkedIn (2024): 78% (US 63%)
- KPMG and Melbourne (2025): 70% use free public tools
- Software AG (2024): about half
Why medium confidence: Three independent surveys with different questions land in the same band. All are online panels, two run by software vendors, and they ask different things: whether tools are employer-provided, which routes people use, or whether tools are company-issued.
Sources
| Study | Creator | Year | Sample | Method | Figure | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 Work Trend Index Annual Report: AI at Work Is Here. Now Comes the Hard Part | Microsoft and LinkedIn, survey by Edelman Data & Intelligence | 2024 | 31,000 knowledge workers in 31 markets, February to March 2024 | Online survey. Asked whether the AI tools people use at work are provided by their organization. Microsoft sells AI tools for work. | 78% of AI users bring their own AI tools (US 63%, UK 75%, Germany 71%); 80% at small and medium-sized companies “78% of AI users are bringing their own AI tools to work (BYOAI)” | microsoft.com ↗ |
| Trust, attitudes and use of artificial intelligence: A global study 2025 | University of Melbourne and KPMG International | 2025 | 32,352 employed people in 47 countries, November 2024 to January 2025 | Online survey; AI-using employees picked every way they access AI tools | Free public tools 70%, employer-provided tools 42%, paid public tools 18%; 61% have avoided revealing their AI use | mbs.edu ↗ |
| Half of all employees are Shadow AI users, new study finds | Software AG, survey by TEAM LEWIS | 2024 | 6,000 knowledge workers in the US, UK and Germany, September 2024 | Online panel survey. Shadow AI means tools the company did not issue, including tolerated ones. Software AG sells integration software. | Half of employees use AI tools the company did not issue; 46% would keep using personal tools even if banned “half of all employees are using Shadow AI (i.e. non-company issued AI tools)” | newscenter.softwareag.com ↗ Archived copy ↗ Software AG's newsroom is offline; the archived copy is the original press release. |
How many workers hide their AI use from their employer?
About half, depending on the question. 48% of desk workers would be uncomfortable telling their manager they used AI for common tasks (Slack, 2024, asked of users and non-users). 52% of AI users are reluctant to admit using it for their most important tasks (Microsoft, 2024). 61% of AI-using employees have avoided revealing their use at least once, and about 42% do so sometimes or more (KPMG and University of Melbourne).
| Study | Creator | Year | Sample | Method | Figure | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Fall 2024 Workforce Index | Slack Workforce Lab (Salesforce) | 2024 | 17,372 desk workers in 15 countries, August 2024 | Online survey; a hypothetical question asked of everyone, users and non-users | 48% would be uncomfortable admitting to their manager that they used AI for common tasks; top reason: it feels like cheating “of all desk workers said they would be uncomfortable admitting to their manager” | slack.com ↗ |
Do people use AI at work even when their employer offers nothing?
Yes. In Denmark, about 40% of workers in exposed jobs had used AI chatbots at work in workplaces that neither encourage it nor provide tools or training, and 7% use them daily. In the US, 6.8% of firms report workers using AI with no firm-level AI use, which is 29% of all firms with any AI use.
| Study | Creator | Year | Sample | Method | Figure | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Still Waters, Rapid Currents: Early Labor Market Transformation under Generative AI (NBER Working Paper 33777) | Anders Humlum and Emilie Vestergaard, with Statistics Denmark | 2026 | About 25,000 workers in 11 AI-exposed occupations, late 2024 | Survey linked to Danish government records | About 40% have used AI chatbots at work where employers neither encourage nor equip them; 6% report a ban “Even in workplaces that neither encourage use nor provide enterprise tools or training” | nber.org ↗ |
| The Microstructure of AI Diffusion (CES Working Paper 26-25) | US Census Bureau Center for Economic Studies | 2026 | Business Trends and Outlook Survey AI supplement, November 2025 to January 2026 | Firm-reported, one respondent per business | 6.8% of US firms report worker AI use with no firm-level AI use “worker task use sometimes occurs without formal firm-level adoption” | www2.census.gov ↗ |
Numbers you may have seen
These figures circulate widely. Here is what the original source says.
- 78% of workers bring their own AI to work. The 78% is of knowledge workers who use AI, about 58% of all knowledge workers, and 63% of AI users in the US. It counts tools the employer did not provide, which is different from banned tools.
- Half of all employees use unauthorized AI (Software AG). The survey defines shadow AI as tools the company did not issue, which includes tools it allows, among knowledge workers in three countries.
- 48% of workers hide their AI use from their boss (Slack). Slack asked whether people would be uncomfortable admitting AI use. It is reluctance to tell, asked of non-users too, and did not ask about actual hiding.
- 57% of employees hide their AI use (KPMG). It combines two behaviors and counts anyone who did either even rarely. Doing it sometimes or more is 39 to 42%.
More from Who Uses AI at Work
- F-1440–50%What share of workers use generative AI at work?
- F-1540–52%What do people use AI for at work?
- F-1678–85%Which occupations and industries use AI the most?
- F-1712–24 ptsWho uses AI at work more, by age, education and income?
- F-185–16 ptsIs there a gender gap in AI use at work, and how large is it?
- F-2042–49%How many employers provide AI tools, guidance or training to staff?
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