The Workers Rights 
Artificial intelligence is creating a new divide in the workplace as workers gain access to different levels of technology, training and career opportunities. The PwC 2026 Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey, which polled 49,364 workers in 48 countries across 29 sectors, identifies four different groups among the workforce with the adoption of AI and market value of their skills.
PwC classifies workers into Front-runners, AI Insurgents, Indispensables and the Engine Room. The categories are based on two factors: the demand and scarcity of worker skills and the advantage employees say they get from AI in areas like work quality, creativity, skills and value to employers.
Front-runners make up 14% of the workforce and combine high-value skills and strong AI capabilities. This group performs much of the routine and essential organisational work but has less access to AI, learning and innovation opportunities, placing it at the centre of the wider workforce divide.
Biggest Skills Shortage For Engine Room Workers
The greatest group of workers is Engine Room workers, who also report the least access to learning and development resources. PwC found that less than two in five workers in this group have access to the learning resources they need, compared with almost 80% among Front-runners.
The gap is important because the Engine Room is still responsible for much of the day-to-day delivery in organisations. These employees may be highly engaged in their work, but feel less prepared to respond to rapid technological change. This leads to a situation in which employees who are critical to operational continuity are offered fewer opportunities to develop new skills.
The survey also indicates this group has less confidence. In Engine Room, 50% of workers say they are confident about job security, and trust in senior management is at 33%, well below the level seen among Front-runners. Such differences can influence the success with which organisations manage large-scale technological change.
Front-Runners Gain More Strengths In AI And Career
At the other extreme are the front-runners, who possess both scarce skills and strong AI capabilities. PwC says that 85 per cent feel very confident about their job security and three quarters trust top management and 82 per cent trust their immediate managers.
AI Insurgents are a smaller but critical group of workers who combine less scarce traditional skills with an active mindset toward AI. This group is ambitious and energetic, and can harness technology to challenge the status quo and develop further value, PwC says.
This group shows that an AI advantage isn’t limited to workers who already have highly specialised, fast-changing expertise. Workers with more common skills can potentially improve their workplace position through experimentation, learning and effective appropriation of new technology.
Must-Haves: Rare Skills And Lower AI Penetration
Another important position in the survey is the Indispensables, which account for 11% of the workforce. These employees have specialised knowledge and skills that are difficult for organisations to replace, but their engagement with AI is relatively low.
Their stance shows that valuable expertise may not be sufficient in a fast-changing workplace. AI is changing the way that specialised work is done, and this will continue to be the case. Established professional knowledge will still be very important, and experienced employees will need opportunities to experiment with technology.
For employers, the group offers an opportunity to combine existing expertise with AI capability. Helping experienced specialists learn relevant tools could help organisations retain valuable institutional knowledge, while adapting established roles to changing technological conditions.
Access To Training Drops As AI Adoption Is Up
The survey shows a clear rise in use of AI in the workplace. Some 64% of workers said they had used AI in the past 12 months, up from the previous year, while daily generative AI usage rose to 22% from 14%. Some 59% also expect to see more AI in their jobs in the next year.
Training access, however, has gone in the other direction. Only 51% of workers said they have access to the learning and development resources they need, down from 59% a year ago. This gap is a significant policy challenge as workers are being asked to adapt to new technology, but access to structured development is becoming less widespread.
AI Skills Increasingly Tied To Job Confidence
Workers who use generative AI often report a more positive experience of change in the workplace. A PwC study found that 68% of daily GenAI users are very confident about their job security, compared to lower confidence among workers who use AI less often.
The broader PwC AI Jobs Barometer also shows that AI skills are becoming more valuable in the labour market. A more general approach to workforce development could therefore be to embed learning in normal work, rather than treating training as an additional responsibility. This approach could help expand AI opportunities beyond employees who already have good access to technology and professional development.
Employers Struggle To Reconfigure Work Around AI
PwC’s findings imply that merely increasing AI adoption may not yield the expected organisational benefits. Firms need to rethink roles, workflows, incentives and performance measures so that technology is embedded in how work gets done. AI Insurgents may be incentivised to build emerging capabilities, while Indispensables may combine specialist expertise with relevant technology skills.
Workforce Skills To Fuel Next Phase Of AI Adoption
The PwC survey shows that the future of AI in the workplace will depend on how quickly organisations embrace technology, and how much employees can be involved in the shift. These four workforce groups demonstrate how AI is already creating inequitable experiences due to scarcity of skills, access to technology, and opportunities for development.
The biggest challenge is avoiding a situation where a small number of highly AI-enabled workers have an advantage while the majority have limited access to training and meaningful use of technology. Bridging that gap could boost employee confidence, organisational resilience and ability to turn AI investment into sustainable productivity.
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