Workers Can't Agree If Junior Employees Should Use AI at Work, CNBC Survey Finds

My take: This survey reveals something beyond the junior employee debate: there is a real divide between workers who have integrated AI into their workflow and those who have not. The 37% of U.S. workers who never use AI at work are, in 2026, already at a measurable disadvantage.

The argument that entry-level employees should not use AI has some logic to it: learning by doing, without shortcuts, builds judgment. But that reasoning conflates two different things: the fundamentals of a craft and the tools used to practice it. An architect who learns with modern design software does not lose design judgment; they simply learn with the tools of their era.

What is clear is that workers who use AI daily feel more secure in their jobs and more productive. That gap (between the 30% who use it every day and the 37% who never touch it) is going to become more visible over the next few years.

Does your company have an AI policy that makes clear who can use it and how? If not, that conversation needs to happen before someone else makes that decision for you.