If AI adoption is accelerating , why does work still feel more fragmented?
ActivTrak’s Chief Customer Officer and Head of ActivTrak’s Productivity Lab Gabriela Mauch joined ISMG’s Dan Verton to help answer this question. ISMG Podcast hosts interview experts for practical, real-world insight on AI to show how enterprises, public sector agencies, thought leaders and leading technology providers are leveraging AI — and how you can, too.
In her interview with Verton, Mauch discussed the paradox unraveling across work sectors today: While AI adoption is up and retention is strong, work patterns tell a more complicated story. Leaders see these promising metrics and assume AI programs are working. But new data indicates the more important story sits just below the surface.
The numbers say AI is winning.
ActivTrak’s Productivity Lab spent three years collecting data on AI usage across 1,111 organizations and more than 163,000 employees. The data was published in ActivTrak’s 2026 State of the Workplace Report.
The big news: AI adoption is at 80% across industries (up from 52% just two years ago), and AI usage retention averaged 92% month over month. Burnout risk has dropped to 22%. Productivity is up and workdays have gotten shorter.
From a leadership perspective, it sounds like AI is saving the day for the workforce.
But the data suggest a different day-to-day reality.
ActivTrak’s report also shows focus efficiency and focus time have dipped, even as employees use AI more. Focus efficiency dropped to a three-year low at 60%. This was especially true for AI adopters, whose focus sessions shortened at a faster rate than non-AI adopters.
Instead of AI reducing workload, it looks like it’s increasing it. Collaboration time went up for AI adopters, with 104% more time spent in email and 145% more chat sessions. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing – collaboration is often good for work – but it means these users had less time to focus on high-value tasks.
At the same time, only 3% of employees are using AI to notably improve their productivity, spending 7-10% of their total work hours in AI tools. This means 97% of workers aren’t using AI to a point where it has any meaningful impact on their work.
This data suggests top performers are using AI to do more work, rather than doing the same work more efficiently.
Closing the AI measurement gap is key.
Most leaders still focus on AI adoption metrics, rather than impact metrics. While adoption is still an important stage in any organization’s AI journey, getting stuck there is what holds organizations back from realizing AI’s potential.
To maximize AI’s positive impact, leaders need the right data. This includes pre-AI baselines on how much time employees spend doing the work AI is supposed to automate, plus where they’re doing that work in terms of tools or apps. They need to see how top performers useAI to boost productivity, so they can integrate those best practices into the rest of the organization.
Leaders also need to look at their organization’s work systems to get to the heart of focus time degradation and increase protected time for workers. Measuring these details is the first step to making meaningful changes.
Measure AI’s impact at your organization with ActivTrak
Move past adoption numbers and into impact metrics at your organization with ActivTrak AI Insights. Our tools empower you to get a true picture of how your employees use AI, from adoption across the organization to how AI is actually impacting productivity. Take control of your organization’s AI journey with deeper insights. See how AI Insights can help you with a free demo.
Get more insights by watching the full interview here.
