• Slack recently published its latest Workforce Index, with some interesting figures around AI use.
  • Among desk workers, daily AI usage is 233 percent higher in just six months.
  • To gain a competitive advantage, workers need to find ways to integrate AI into their daily tasks.

Much has been made of the impact that AI is having on the workplace.

While most organisations and industries are investing heavily and experimenting greatly with AI-powered tools and systems, the harsh reality is that many of the jobs that were once done by humans are quickly being replaced by AI, or more accurately, those who are picking up AI skills faster than their peers.

It is a trend we have seen in real-time thanks to the latest Slack Workforce Index, shared by Salesforce (which owns Slack).

One of the headline statistics shared in the report is the significant surge in daily AI use by desk workers, with it increasing a massive 233 percent in the space of six months.

The Index, which surveyed roughly 5 000 global desk workers, also found that AI has emerged as a clear competitive advantage. This as workers who use AI daily prove to be 64 percent more productive and 81 percent more satisfied with their job than colleagues not using AI, according to Slack.

Another key finding from the Index reveals that workers are using AI to upskill, leveraging the technology to go beyond the usual application of automating tasks. 

Here, 96 percent of workers have used AI to perform tasks they previously didn’t have the skills to do themselves, the Index found. Salesforce also shared that workers are 154 percent more likely to turn to AI agents, like Agentforce, to help them perform tasks better, although we have seen other research noting that the current AI agent push could slow down significantly.

“AI adoption is accelerating rapidly, and it’s changing the way the world works for the better. As more workers embrace AI, businesses are able to unlock greater productivity and value, and help their employees focus on work that drives real impact and growth,” noted Peter Doolan, EVP and chief customer officer at Slack, Salesforce, in a release shared with Hypertext.

Whatever your opinion of AI is, and regardless of how keen you are to adopt it, workers have a reckoning to contend with.

That is the pervasiveness of this technology and how failing to acquire skills related to it, will see colleagues stay employed while others are laid off.

As workers have an important decision to make in terms of embracing AI and adopting new skills, Salesforce’s outlook is focused on organisations being proactive in assisting those hungry to learn.

“The latest Salesforce Slack Workforce Index provides a compelling look into how AI adoption is evolving around the world. What’s particularly insightful for us in South Africa is that trends, including AI’s shift away from automating routine work and toward enabling creative and strategic tasks, can be anticipated in our organisations in the near future,” emphasised Salesforce country manager and senior director of Solution Engineering for Africa, Linda Saunders.

“While our nation continues to navigate its unique digital transformation challenges, these global insights affirm that AI’s potential to unlock human capacity and grow productivity is a universal reality. We are well-positioned to embrace these advancements within the private sector, and leading organisations across sectors will begin to reap these rewards by making decisive investments in skills and infrastructure today,” she concluded.

[Image – Photo by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash]