Your people are using AI every day. Most of them have never been trained to.
From the outside, your approach to AI looks considered. Tools are in place, budgets are signed off, and training is on the agenda. But our research reveals a very different picture beneath the surface.
The people who need AI skills most are the ones least likely to have them. Entry-level and intermediate staff are working with powerful AI tools, every day, with little to no formal training to back them up. The errors are piling up. The anxiety is spreading. And the gap between leadership’s confidence and workforce reality keeps growing.
The problem isn’t that your teams aren’t using AI. It’s that they’re not equipped to use it well.
The headlines
Why this matters for your organisation
Your teams are already making costly AI mistakes
Two-thirds of tech workers have seen AI cause an error at their company. Untrained employees don’t know what good looks like. Outputs go unchecked, data gets misused, and avoidable mistakes drive up costs.
Your talent pipeline is quietly weakening
Half the workforce expects AI to cost jobs within three years. Unsupported, anxious people disengage and leave. In a market already short on skilled tech talent, that’s not a risk you can absorb.
The gap between the C-suite and the workforce is widening
56% of C-suite leaders say their AI strategy matches reality. Only 16% of entry-level staff agree. When training doesn’t reach the people who need it most, your strategy stays on paper and your risk stays in your people.
What's inside the whitepaper
This 24-page report provides a comprehensive picture of AI usage across UK workplaces, based on independent research with 2,020 tech workers.
You’ll discover:
- Why entry-level and intermediate staff are the most under-trained and the most exposed
- The real cost of unverified AI outputs at every level of the business
- Why the organisations that look AI-ready often aren’t
- What the gap between leadership confidence and workforce reality means in practice
- Five practical actions you can take today to start closing the skills gap
AI in the Workforce report
Get the full findings from our research with over 2,000 UK tech workers and discover where the skills gaps are hiding inside your organisation, plus a practical framework for what to fix first.
How La Fosse Academy can help
Associate model - hire, train, deploy
26% of entry-level and 34% of intermediate staff have received no AI training. Recruiting directly into that gap is expensive and slow. Our associate model is a faster, lower-risk route.
We recruit, train and embed delivery-ready associates into your team for up to 24 months, with the option to convert permanently. Cohorts are built around your tech stack, tools, location and security needs. Specialisms include Data and AI, DevOps and Cloud, InfoSec, Change, Dev and Test, and Architecture.
Corporate upskilling
You’ve invested in AI platforms and tools. But 67% of tech workers admit to using AI to complete work they weren’t trained to do. Your people are working the old way with new technology.
Our modular upskilling programmes close that gap fast. Pathways typically run two to eight weeks, covering AI and Data, Tech Development, Change and Transformation, and Digital Leadership. Practical, targeted, and built around how your teams actually work.
AI-enhanced apprenticeships
Only 37% of tech workers always verify AI outputs. But the skills gap isn’t just in your tech team. It’s in the business roles around them: operations, customer service, admin, leadership, coaching. The people who use technology to get work done, not the people who build it.
Our levy-funded apprenticeship programmes embed AI and automation skills into these everyday roles. Practical learning applied in real work from day one, building capability from the inside out. Upskill your existing teams or bring in new talent. No additional training budget required.
Seven programmes available: Operations Leadership, Data Analytics, Team Leadership, Business Administration, Customer Service, Coaching and Development, and AI & Automation Practitioner.
About the research This research was conducted by Censuswide among a sample of 2,020 employees in the UK working in tech, aged 18 and over. The data was collected between 16 and 23 December 2025. Respondents span all seniority levels: C-suite executives (27%), directors (19%), senior management (27%), middle management (15%), intermediate level (9%), and entry level (2%). Censuswide abides by and employs members of the Market Research Society and follows the MRS code of conduct and ESOMAR principles.
© La Fosse 2026. All rights reserved.