{
  "id": 19572460,
  "title": "Nearly 1 In 3 Gen Z Workers Secretly Use AI On The Job, Imperial Survey Finds",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/12/nearly-1-in-3-gen-z-workers-secretly-use-ai-on-the-job-imperial",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-11-12T00:05:44.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dev.to",
    "slug": "dev-to",
    "url": "https://dev.to/fathomnews/nearly-1-in-3-gen-z-workers-secretly-use-ai-on-the-job-imperial-survey-finds-211e"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A recent survey conducted by Imperial Lifelong Learning, the adult education arm of Imperial College London, reveals that nearly one-third of Gen Z workers in the UK are using AI on the job without their bosses' knowledge. The study surveyed 2,000 employees across various sectors, including healthcare, technology, finance, energy, and manufacturing. Key findings include:\n\n1. 29% of Gen Z workers use AI at work without their employer's knowledge, compared to 17% of all workers.\n2. 97% of workers are confident in their current skills for the next year, despite seeing a significant skills gap in their industry.\n3. 59% of workers believe there is a skills gap in their industry, with this figure rising to 75% among business owners and executives.\n4. 70% of regular AI users notice this skills gap, while only 36% of those who rarely use AI do.\n5. 85% of workers want formal AI training in the next two years, and 71% would switch jobs if their employer paid for retraining.\n6. Younger workers (Gen Z) are much more likely to use AI at work without their employer's consent (29%) compared to older generations.\n7. Only 9% of secret AI users would stay in their current job if their employer offered paid retraining, while 28% of all workers would.\n8. 26% of workers feel using AI at work is dishonest, 20% avoid it due to mistrust in the results, and 20% worry colleagues will view them negatively for using it.\n\nThe survey indicates that AI use in the workplace varies significantly by industry and rank, with technology and digital jobs seeing the highest usage. Nearly half of all workers use AI regularly, but this drops to only 31% among Baby Boomers. The study suggests that the UK workforce could become less competitive if the skills gap isn't addressed, particularly in AI and other emerging technologies.",
  "summary": "Nearly 1 in 3 Gen Z workers in the UK use AI on the job without their boss knowing, and 97% of all workers say their own skills are fine even though most see a big skills gap around them, a survey of 2,000 employees shows. Key Takeaways 17% of UK workers use AI at work without their employer knowing, rising to 29% of Gen Z 97% are confident they have the skills their job needs for the next 12…",
  "key_points": [
    "29% of Gen Z workers use AI at job without employer knowledge",
    "97% of workers confident in skills for next year despite industry gaps",
    "85% want formal AI training in next two years"
  ],
  "editors_take": "The widespread unrecorded use of AI among younger employees highlights a growing disconnect between workforce capabilities and corporate oversight that threatens long-term national competitiveness.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}