A survey by Epoch AI and Ipsos found that 20% of employed Americans now delegate at least one task to AI instead of colleagues. The survey, which interviewed 1,106 employed US adults between July 10 and 19, 2026, revealed that AI is used across all ten common work tasks examined. However, adoption rates varied, with software development showing the highest usage at 57% and record-keeping the lowest at 25%. Workers generally use AI as partial support rather than full automation.
AI use is most common in software development and data analysis, with 57% and 46% of workers using it, respectively. The survey also found that when AI handles most of a task, workers report saving time in 53% of cases, compared to 37% when AI provides partial assistance. However, about one in six AI-assisted tasks now takes longer than before, according to the survey. Researchers suggest this may be due to the time required to interact with AI or increased focus on quality.
The survey highlights that two-thirds of AI output is used with little to no editing, though the researchers note that this does not directly reflect AI output quality. They also found no consistent link between reported time savings and the amount of editing done. Overall, the findings suggest a redistribution of tasks between humans and AI rather than full automation of entire jobs. The results are based on self-reported data and not objective measurements of time savings or output quality.
Source: thedecoder
