Our AI Proficiency Report revealed 4 types of AI users:  AI Experts*, AI Practitioners*, AI Experimenters*, and AI Skeptics. Today, we’re looking at which industries have the greatest proportion of AI Experts – and what sets them apart.

Here are the industries that are leading the AI charge and which are lagging behind.

‍*As we’ve expanded our research (new report coming this Fall 👀), we’ve rebranded the AI Class to the AI Experts, the AI Experimenters to the AI Practitioners, and the AI newcomers to the AI Experimenters to more accurately describe the AI users in the knowledge workforce.

AI leading industries

The industries with the highest proportion of AI Experts are consulting (19%), B2B software (14%), and advertising/media/branding (10%).

Here’s what sets them apart:

• On average, 73% of employers in these industries approve of AI
• 24% of employees in these industries are saving 20+% of their time with AI each week
• 34% of employees in these industries are daily AI users
• Nearly 20% of employees in these industries use all four of AI’s personas in their work (assistant, creator, thought partner, and researcher)

Unsurprisingly, these are also the industries with the highest scores in prompting proficiency.

AI lagging industries

The industries with the lowest share of AI Experts are retail (0%), manufacturing (0%), and healthcare (1%).

Here’s what’s holding them back:

• On average, 60% of employers in these industries approve of AI
• Only 15% of employees in these industries use AI daily
• Only 9% of employees in these industries use all four of AI’s personas

As a result, the median employee in these industries saves less than10% of their time each week using AI. The largest segment (29%) of healthcare workers reported no time savings at all.

Employer approval in these industries isn’t that much lower than leading industries, but it’s clear that employees in these industries use AI differently and much less than their leading counterparts.

Healthcare and retail employees also had low prompting scores (the 3rd and 2nd lowest respectively). Manufacturing employees were more middle of the pack in prompting, but had the worst knowledge scores (3.9 out of 10), indicating that these employees are less well trained on safe AI usage.

The lack of proficiency to skepticism pipeline

Unsurprisingly, people with less prompting proficiency are also more likely to be skeptics, with healthcare leading the industries with the largest percentage of AI skeptics (18%).

How healthcare stacks up:

• Only 2.5% of healthcare workers use AI for all 4 personas
• Only 6.7% use AI daily
• A full 50% are in companies with no AI policy or an outright ban

Of course industry regulations, PII, and other ethical considerations factor in. But considering Moderna reports 80% internal adoption of AI, it’s clearly possible for other healthcare companies to follow suit.

What this means for you

While employer policies do come into play here a little bit, it’s clear some industries are using AI more strategically, efficiently, and regularly than others.

If you’re in an industry that’s lagging in AI, there’s a clear opportunity for you to set yourself apart.

And if you’re in an industry that’s leading the way and you still haven’t invested in AI, it’s time to catch up. 71% of leaders prefer hiring Gen Z candidates with AI skills over Millennials with more relevant industry experience. So unless you want to be lapped, get on board.

Here’s how:

• Be an AI advocate and try to get policies and official tools in place for your company. Send this post and our AI Proficiency Report to your boss as proof. ‍
• On your own, invest in AI education so your resume stands out from the crowd when it’s time to move up. Become a member of our AI Academy and get access to unlimited AI courses.