WalkMe, an SAP company
WalkMe Research · 2026

The AI
Confidence Trap

Based on original research among 2,037 U.S. workers who use AI on the job. Confidence in AI is near universal. Results have not followed.

90%
feel confident using AI at work
24.6%
say it works on the first try
50.2%
have lost time to AI on a task they could have done faster themselves
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Executive summary

Comfort with AI is rising. Competence is not.

WalkMe's third AI at Work Pulse Survey finds a workforce that has stopped hiding its AI use, but overestimates its capabilities. Nine in ten workers feel confident. One in four says the tool does what they needed on the first attempt.

The encouraging news is that concealment is falling. Every behavior we have tracked since 2025 moved in the right direction. What has not moved is whether the work gets better.

The confidence
90.0%

of workers say they are confident or very confident using AI for their work tasks. Among senior leaders it reaches 92.6%.

The reality
24.6%

say AI does what they needed on the first try.

The signal
30.2%

want guidance built into the tools they already use, delivered at the moment of work. It is the second most requested improvement of eight.

The Confidence Gap

Almost everyone feels capable. Far fewer are getting a usable result the first time they ask.

65.4

percentage points separate the share of workers who feel confident using AI from the share who say it works on the first attempt.

Confidence

Feeling capable and being effective are not the same thing

Share of workers, 2026

Feel confident using AI at work90.0%
Say AI works on the first try24.6%
Have lost time to AI on a task50.2%
Confidence is close to universal. Outcomes are not, and the distance between the two is the finding.

Source: AI at Work Pulse Survey 2026, base n=2,037.

Year over year

Every measure we can compare improved

Measures asked in the same terms in 2025 and 2026

Feel confident using AI for work tasks
91.5%
→
90.0%
Have spent more time using AI than the task would have taken manually
59.0%
→
50.2%
Manager or team expects more output in the same time
58.6%
→
51.3%
Pretended to know how to use AI in a meeting or presentation
45.2%
→
28.3%
Used AI then presented the work as their own to avoid judgment
48.7%
→
32.5%
Received conflicting messages about which AI tools are allowed
51.0%
→
39.3%
Workers are not becoming more deceptive. Concealment and friction are both easing. Whether the work itself is getting better is a separate question, and one this survey cannot answer year over year: first-try success was introduced in 2026 and has no 2025 baseline.

Source: AI at Work Pulse Survey, 2025 base n=1,000 and 2026 base n=2,037. The 2024 wave used different screening criteria and is not comparable at the sample level.

What The Gap Costs

Output expectations rose faster than capability. People compensated, and the compensating runs all the way to the top.

51.3%
say AI led their manager or team to expect more output in the same amount of time
33.3%
have pretended to be more skilled or knowledgeable with AI than they are
32.5%
have used AI and then presented the work as their own to avoid judgment
Generation

The most confident group is the most exposed

Gen Z, ages 18 to 29, against Baby Boomers, 62 and over

Gen Z Boomers
Feel confident using AI94.1% vs 75.5%
Have overstated their AI skill45.0% vs 12.5%
Say it caused a real problem at work31.0% vs 6.8%
The generation most fluent with AI is the one most likely to have overstated its ability, and four times more likely to say it caused a mistake, a missed deadline, or lost trust.

Source: AI at Work Pulse Survey 2026. Gen Z n=471, Boomers n=192. Both bases are smaller than the full sample.

53.6%

of workers say they have felt that a senior leader does not fully understand the AI strategy they are championing publicly.

Employee perception. Source: AI at Work Pulse Survey 2026, base n=2,037.

Self-reported by senior leaders

39.1%

have championed, approved, or purchased an AI tool they do not know how to use, compared with 25.3% of individual contributors

41.6%

have pretended to understand their company’s AI strategy when speaking with employees, peers, or board members

Self-reported. Senior leaders means C-level, President and Vice President, n=202. Individual contributors n=760. Source: AI at Work Pulse Survey 2026.

Escalation

When people get stuck, nobody is the answer

First move when a manager does not know how to do something with AI at work

Ask the AI itself for help22.4%
Search online for tutorials or examples20.0%
Trial and error on their own19.2%
Ask their own manager12.7%
Ask a coworker12.0%
Check internal company documentation11.5%
Give up and do the task without AI2.2%
Managers are not the escalation path, and neither is documentation. More than six in ten managers solve it alone or ask the tool that just failed them. 26.8% have pretended to know how to use AI in a meeting themselves.

Source: AI at Work Pulse Survey 2026, managers only, base n=731. Single selection.

What Actually Works

The workers getting results are not the ones with more tools. They are the ones whose support arrives inside the workflow, at the moment they need it.

33.1%

of workers say that when AI worked well, the reason was guidance on the screen while they were doing the work. It is the highest-ranked factor an employer can actually provide.

What workers ask for

The request is help at the moment of work

What would most improve the experience of using AI at work. Multiple selection, so options do not total 100%.

Better integration between AI and other work tools33.7%
Guidance built into the tools I already use, not separate training30.2%
Real examples of how people in my role use AI well30.1%
AI that understood my specific role and tasks better29.8%
Help knowing when to use AI and when not to26.7%
A culture where using AI is openly accepted, not judged24.9%
Clearer permission about which AI tools are allowed21.2%
Nothing, my current AI experience is great11.6%
The top three answers describe the same thing from three angles: make the help appear where the work happens. Only 11.6% say nothing needs to change.

Source: AI at Work Pulse Survey 2026, base n=2,037.

What made it work

On-screen guidance is the top thing a company controls

What made the difference when AI worked well. Multiple selection.

Conditions, not company actions
I had time to experiment without pressure41.9%
The tool was easy to figure out on my own40.7%
Things an employer provides
Guidance right there on the screen as I used it33.1%
Someone showed me exactly how to use it for my tasks29.4%
Clear company guidance on what was allowed26.3%
Coworkers I could ask for help23.4%
The two highest answers are circumstances, not interventions. Nobody can budget for unhurried time. On-screen guidance is the first item on this list a company can actually deliver.

Source: AI at Work Pulse Survey 2026, base n=2,037. 3.3% said AI has not worked well for them yet.

The training gap

The kind of training workers want has changed

How prepared workers feel to use AI at work, based on the training they have received. All options shown.

I have had no AI training at all23.3%
Moderate training, and it is sufficient19.5%
Only elementary training, a few hours in total18.8%
Moderate training, but it does not feel like enough18.6%
Moderate training, but it is hard to find the time10.3%
Extensive, time-consuming training9.6%
Roughly one in five say the training they have had is sufficient. No training at all is the most common answer, and another 47.7% have had some but describe it as too little, too shallow, or too hard to find time for. Workers are not asking for less training. They are asking for it inside the tool, at the moment they need it, rather than in a separate course beforehand.

Source: AI at Work Pulse Survey 2026, base n=2,037. Single selection, options total 100%.

Policy clarity

Four in ten are getting mixed signals about what they may use

A separate question: whether workers have received conflicting messages at work about using AI, for example being told to use certain tools while being warned off others.

Yes, have received conflicting messages39.3%
No60.7%
This fell from 51.0% in 2025, so policy is getting clearer. It is still the case that two in five people are unsure what they are allowed to use.

Source: AI at Work Pulse Survey 2026, base n=2,037. 2025 wave base n=1,000.

Comfort with AI has been solved. What remains is the harder question: can organizations show where AI is being used, and what changed as a result?

Read the full release Media inquiries
Sample
2,037 working U.S. adults
Screening
Employed, uses AI on the job
Fielded by
Propeller Insights
Field dates
June 10 to 20, 2026
Prior wave
2025, n = 1,000
Wave
Third installment