Just 5% of workers have this skill, according to Google—and they’re 4.5x times more likely to have a higher salary

Artificial intelligence may dominate the conversation in boardrooms and break rooms alike—but a new Google report suggests most workers still haven’t adopted the technology en masse. In a study conducted with Ipsos and shared exclusively with Fortune , Google found that just two in five U.S. workers (40%) are even casually using AI on the job.

Only 5% are considered “AI fluent,” meaning they’ve redesigned or reorganized significant portions of their work with the technology. That gap appears to have real career implications. Workers who are AI fluent are 4.5x more likely to report higher wages and 4x more likely to report a promotion attributed to their ability to use AI, as compared with workers who are still in the early stages of using the technology.

But among those not using AI at work, the top barrier was relevance: 53% said they don’t think AI applies to what they do. Adoption also lags among small businesses, rural workers, and frontline employees—groups that could face the steepest climb as AI-driven productivity baselines rise.

While fears of immediate, widespread job replacement have cooled in recent months, Google’s data points to a possibility of workers being left behind if they are not properly trained. Just 14% of workers have been offered AI training by their employer in the last 12 months, and only 37% say that their organization provides guidance on AI use at work.

Fabien Curto Millet, Google’s chief economist, acknowledged it will take more time for AI to be integrated into day-to-day workflows—but warned that waiting has consequences. “Failing to invest in training means running the risk of losing ground to competitors who are already reaping these rewards,” Curto Millet told Fortune .

“Employers should consider what happens when their competitors are the ones achieving that kind of jump in quality and efficiency first.” The race for AI fluency—and what it means for the workforce The findings come more than three years after ChatGPT arrived—and a subsequent wave of generative AI tools, from Claude to Gemini to Copilot.

In that time, corporate pressure to squeeze more productivity out of workers has only intensified. Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai has pushed employees to move faster on AI adoption, arguing that the current moment demands staying ahead of the curve. “Anytime you go through a period of extraordinary investment, you respond by adding a lot of headcount, right?” Pichai said, according to CNBC .

“But in this AI moment, I think we have to accomplish more by taking advantage of this transition to drive higher productivity.” Google is also placing a bet on more structured upskilling. The company is launching a new AI Professional Certificate , an eight-hour program focused on applying AI to research, content creation, and data analysis.

Major companies, including Walmart , Colgate-Palmolive , and Deloitte are set to offer the certificate at no cost to their employees. Donna Morris, Walmart’s chief people officer, told Fortune the company views AI as a shift that changes how work gets done—not a reason to sideline workers. “We all have to change.

That’s an ongoing need, but we all have the opportunity to lean into what that new future is,” Morris said.  “I think new jobs will be created. I think new businesses will be created. I think the way we will do things will change.