Few mid-career and older workers use AI at work — yet

New research conducted with grant support from Google.org and The SCAN Foundation, reveals some surprising statistics about mid-career and older workers.

For the Generation.org study, YouGov surveyed two audiences across the U.S. and Europe: people aged 45+ who work in entry and mid-level roles, and hiring managers who evaluate candidates for these roles. 

It covered a broad range of industries and company sizes, and overall surveyed 2,610 employees and 1,488 employers in France, Ireland, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

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AI and the over 45s

It found that only 15% of workers aged 45-plus in both the U.S. and Europe report using AI at work, with Spain reporting the highest usage at 19%. In between was France (15%), Ireland (16%), and the UK (17%).

This doesn’t mean mid-career workers are luddites, however. Though AI has caused significant time savings for repetitive tasks, many of the routine duties that can be automated with AI fall under the remit of early-career professionals. 

This was certainly the case in a 2023 National Bureau of Economic Research study by MIT Sloan and Stanford academics that examined a large call centre. It found that it was novice workers who enjoyed the biggest productivity gains from using AI tools.

Meanwhile, strategy, management and niche industry knowledge are some of the key offerings of mid-career and older workers, and these cannot be outsourced to AI easily or at all.

Revamp your CV

Despite knowing this, it is helpful and recommended for workers to include AI on their CVs, whether this reflects formal training, a recent project, or as a tech tool used in day-to-day work.

Hiring managers in both the U.S. and Europe showed a strong preference for younger candidates for AI-intensive roles, indicating a belief that older workers may be less adaptable to technology. 

Only 32-33% of employers would consider candidates over age 60 for such roles, versus over 85% for those under 35. Having AI explicitly on your CV preempts such assumptions.

This addition of AI would be all the more promising to clued-in hiring managers, as among the 45-plus group who do use AI, most are self-taught users showing initiative and adaptability. 

Many in the survey report on AI’s positive impacts on work quality, productivity, and job satisfaction, showing that older workers can thrive if they adopt this technology.

But it might take some convincing for those not using it at all. In the U.S., only 24% non-users expressed interest in learning AI, though this rises to 36% for Europe, while 31% are neutral about AI in the U.S., compared to 17% in Europe.

Of course, AI cannot replace decades of well-worn experience, but later-stage career professionals can still leverage AI to their benefit, in the job market and in the day-to-day. 

Upskill in AI

Overall, fewer older workers pursue training; 38% participate annually, compared to 50% of younger workers, and this is reflected in AI upskilling too.

The report recommends that employers focus on developing employee’s AI use cases that align with older workers’ expertise, while encouraging ongoing training.

But for those still on the fence, let the grim statistics from the 2024 Annual Work Trend Index from Microsoft and LinkedIn be your prompt. 

These researchers found that employers are now more interested in AI skills than in demonstrated performance, after polling 31,000 workers across 31 nations.

According to 71% of executives, hiring candidates with AI experience is preferable to hiring those with real-world experience.

This presents a clear danger for professionals who are a few years or decades into their working life. 

Online courses from Datacamp, Udemy, Codecademy, Coursera, and edX are all recognised and good for an easy ‘in’ – some even come with a certification.

While well-established universities and colleges who are focused on advancing AI education, like Stanford’s Deep Learning programme, are worth exploring for more in-depth upskilling. 

As AI skills become a baseline for employability, mid-career and older workers need to showcase their adaptability, and continue to add value in both new and established ways. 

Depending on your role and industry, AI might not make a huge difference in how you work, but knowing and using it will change how you are perceived by executives and hiring managers, who increasingly value employees and candidates with AI fluency. 

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Author

Amanda Kavanagh, content strategy, production, writing & editing at Jobbio.