Global Studies Find Companies Use AI to Collaborate, Not Automate

The debate over workplace AI has focused on whether software will displace employees, but new evidence points to a more incremental shift in how jobs are performed. Google’s inaugural AI & Economy ATLAS and a separate Adecco Group whitepaper developed with Altermind suggest companies are using AI mainly as a collaborator for ideation, strategy, information retrieval and learning, making job redesign and worker skills more immediate issues than wholesale automation.

Google released ATLAS v1.0 on July 23, based on 15 million aggregated, de-identified interactions across the Gemini App, AI Mode and Gemini API, spanning more than 150 countries and 140 languages. AI appeared in 68% of occupations but touched only about 21% of tasks in a typical job, while fewer than 10% of work interactions fully automated tasks. Adecco said 1.9 million AI-related jobs were created from 2022 through 2025, as OECD employment remained near record highs.