Ask who’s most comfortable with AI at work, and many leaders will point to the youngest people in the room. Digital natives in entry-level roles are expected to pick up new tools fastest, while managers and executives try to keep pace.
A new TripleTen survey of 2,000 full-time workers in the US found the opposite. AI is changing work fastest at the top of the org chart, where most of the learning is happening. The survey results revealed that executives and managers have had the most interaction with AI, while entry- and mid-level employees receive less exposure and training. The AI skills gap hinges on who’s given the chance to learn.
AI reached the top of the org chart first
Sixty-eight percent of C-suite executives and business owners, and 55% of managers, say AI has massively or significantly changed how they do their jobs. In contrast, 26% of entry-level employees feel the same, with 53% saying AI hasn’t changed their day-to-day work at all.
“Leaders are feeling it first because they’re accountable for what AI is changing — growth, margins, and how their teams work,” says Russell Ramesh, chief strategy officer at TripleTen. “The real question is how quickly the rest of the company catches up.”
The gap is about access, not attitude
Leaders say AI skills are essential, but employees aren’t being given the same opportunity to develop them. Forty-three percent of owners and managers call using AI chatbots an “absolute must” for employees today, yet only 24% of non-manager staff have been asked to learn them. For more advanced AI work, 33% of owners and managers say automating or building with AI is a must, while only 17% of staff have been asked to learn it.
Senior leaders are far more likely to get that access themselves. Forty-nine percent of C-suite leaders have been asked to learn AI chatbots, compared with 13% of entry-level employees. For automation or AI building, the figures are 30% and 8%, respectively.
“Leaders are ahead mostly because they chose the tools and tried them before anyone else,” says Ana Riabova, AI strategy and enablement lead at TripleTen. “Juniors usually get access later, with less time and less guidance.”
The people AI will change most are the least prepared
Many workers aren’t waiting for permission. Ninety percent of C-suite executives and 71% of managers say they’re teaching themselves AI with confidence. But only 39% of mid-level employees and 31% of entry-level employees say the same; 37% of mid-level workers and 58% of those with no say in hiring, promotions, or pay haven’t begun learning AI tools.
As businesses explore AI that could reshape entry-level work, the people doing that work are getting the fewest chances to build the skills to work alongside it. Kept outside the change, they’re the ones whose careers are most exposed.
Career cushioning is the new retention risk
When workers don’t see room to grow in their current roles, many turn to career cushioning: building a backup career while staying in their current job. Nearly half (48%) have considered a backup career in case their current one doesn’t meet their expectations, and 77% of them have already started preparing for it.
“Most people thinking about a backup career want more from their work,” says Victor Menin, Ed.D., vice president of enrollment at TripleTen. “They want to enjoy what they do, they want less stress, and they want to feel secure as AI changes what their jobs look like.”
Those who haven’t yet thought about a backup career point to practical barriers: a lack of time (27%), worries about starting over at their age (26%), and fear of being pushed back into an entry-level job (20%).
“I don’t see many people trying to avoid AI,” Menin says. “Most are already trying it out and want to be ready when their role changes. The hardest part is usually the first step. Once people start learning, they find their experience counts for more than they expected, and that they can build new skills around a full-time job.”
The takeaway for employers: When workers can’t build new skills where they are, many are preparing to build them somewhere else.
Leaders want to reskill, but follow-through lags
Decision-makers aren’t against training. Eighty-two percent would rather train current employees in new skills than hire someone who already has them, and 87% believe their company would pay, fully or partially, for an employee to retrain for a different role.
Employees report a different story. Fewer than half of workers (47%) used employer-provided training of any kind in the past 12 months, and not necessarily AI. Overall, 21% say they haven’t been asked to learn any new skills, and among entry-level employees, that rises to 41%.
Either the training that leaders intend isn’t reaching the people who need it most, or it’s available but not built into their day-to-day work. Both challenges are fixable.
5 ways leaders can close the AI skills gap
Check who’s being asked to learn. If AI skills are a must for employees, they belong in entry- and mid-level role expectations, not just leadership’s.Train the people closest to the work being redesigned. The workers whose tasks AI is most likely to reshape are the ones who’ll get the most value from learning.Give people time, not just access. Lack of time was the most common barrier to preparing for a career change. The same constraint applies to learning on the job.Let skills flow up, too. 31% of leaders have learned a new skill from an employee, and 88% of those say it has become standard practice in their workplace.Make learning continuous. One-off training can’t keep up with jobs that change this fast.
Ramesh describes it as a broader shift from episodic reskilling to continuous career learning. “This positions TripleTen to support learners across the full arc of their careers, from micro-skilling and targeted upskilling to reskilling, career transitions, and applied AI degree pathways built for the evolving workplace,” he says.
Companies that turn AI adoption into business value will be the ones that give employees at every level the chance to learn AI and use it in their daily work.
See how TripleTen helps working professionals build AI skills for their next career move.
This sponsored post was created by BI Studios with TripleTen.
The survey of 2,000 US full-time workers was commissioned by TripleTen and conducted September 4-11, 2026.
