Rather than easing workloads, artificial intelligence is currently accelerating and complicating work processes. This conclusion was reached by analysts at ActivTrak.
The extensive study covered 164,000 employees from 1,111 companies. Experts analyzed 443 million work hours, comparing digital activity six months before and after the introduction of AI tools.
What the Data Showed
ActivTrak found that artificial intelligence increased workload in nearly all areas:
- time spent on communication via email and messengers more than doubled;
- use of business systems (HR, accounting) jumped by 94%;
- duration of focused and uninterrupted work (coding, strategic planning, etc.) decreased by 9%.
“It’s not that AI doesn’t create efficiency. It’s just that the freed-up resources are immediately redirected to other work. This is where the unnoticed task expansion occurs,” explained Gabriela Mauch from ActivTrak in a comment to WSJ.
The statistics also refute the theory of reduced working hours. AI users work on average eight minutes longer than their colleagues who do without the new tools.
Adoption Dynamics
The proportion of employees using artificial intelligence rose from 53% to 80%. Time spent working with AI increased eightfold.
Since January 2024, the average audience retention rate stands at 92%, with the figure never dropping below 88%. Nearly 40% of users have interacted with the technology for 13 consecutive months or more.
For comparison, only 9% used AI for just one month. However, even with nearly universal adoption, there is still no evidence that neural networks free up working time.
The highest productivity is shown by those who spend 7-10% of their working time on artificial intelligence, yet this category includes only 3% of users. Most use AI for just 1% of their time.
Most Popular Tools
In 2023, companies used an average of two AI tools, but by 2025, this number had grown to seven. Meanwhile, 83% of organizations employ six or more solutions at once. Instead of consolidating around a few platforms, the range of tools is only expanding.
ChatGPT remains the leader in terms of usage time, outpacing its nearest competitor Cursor by 27 times. The site chatgpt.com rose from 19th to fifth place among the most visited sites, increasing its annual audience by 145%.
Earlier in February, similar observations were shared in Harvard Business Review. Experts monitored changes in the habits of employees at an American tech company with a staff of about 200 people over eight months.
