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RNS Number : 4315E  General Assembly (GA)  19 May 2026

Business Leaders Still Primarily Use AI for Simple Tasks, Study from General
Assembly and EZRA Finds

Those who have received leadership-specific AI training more likely to use AI
more often and more strategically

NEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire (https://www.accessnewswire.com/)  / May
19, 2026 / A new survey (https://pr.report/lkbe)  of more than 500 U.S. and
U.K. business leaders found that while they are increasingly confident in
their own AI skills, the most common use cases of the technology at the
leadership level remain simple tasks like searching for information (69%),
summarizing documents (68%) and drafting emails (58%). Strategic applications
such as scenario planning (27%), organizational design (27%) and financial
modeling (28%) lag far behind. The research was conducted by General Assembly,
a global leader in practical AI skills training, in collaboration with EZRA, a
leading global coaching and learning provider, both LHH brands.

The study also surfaces a sharp divide between leadership levels. Vice
presidents consistently fall behind director-level colleagues across nearly
every measure of AI adoption and competence, emerging as a weak link in
enterprise AI transformation. Only 58% of VPs feel confident using AI tools
without compromising company data (compared to 85% of directors), just 39%
have reworked team structures and workflows around AI (compared to 71% of
directors), and more than two-thirds (68%) said they don't know what vibe
coding, or rapid prototyping with AI tools, is. This implies that VPs are
struggling not only with technology, but with the human change management
required to drive effective adoption.

Role-specific AI training helps leaders use AI more strategically

Nearly four in five leaders (79%) have attended an AI training or taken a
course on AI, up from 69% in 2025 and 52% in 2024. Two-thirds (67%) say their
company offers a leadership-specific AI training program, up from 55% in 2025,
and 88% of those who have access have attended.

Attending a leadership-specific AI training strongly correlates with better
outcomes across the board:

·      96% of leaders who attended such training say their team uses AI
tools regularly, compared to 82% overall

·      88% understand how to use AI without compromising company data,
compared to 68% overall

·      97% feel they have the knowledge to make AI-related vendor
decisions, compared to 83% overall

·      71% have a rubric to assess what good AI usage looks like,
compared to 52% overall

·      89% feel confident they can accurately assess employees' AI
competence, compared to 71% overall

Additionally, those who had not attended a leadership-specific AI training
were more likely to use AI to draft emails (75%) and less likely to use it for
complex tasks like qualitative data analysis (31%) and competitive and market
intelligence (19%). They were also less likely (only 19%) to say they had
successfully vibe coded something, compared to 49% of those who had attended
the training.

Leaders more likely to evaluate employees on AI usage vs. impact

Nearly half of leaders (47%) say AI usage is now factored into employee
performance reviews. Among those who do, 62% evaluate contributions to
teamwide documentation or processes that use AI, 61% review automated
reporting on AI tool usage, 56% consider improvements in KPIs attributable to
AI use, and 42% evaluate anecdotes about how employees use AI to become more
efficient.

Notably, only 34% of leaders at companies with 10,000+ employees say AI is a
factor in reviews, suggesting that larger organizations lag on this front.
Additionally, at companies who do not currently factor AI into reviews, 54% of
leaders are opposed to doing so.

Leaders are replacing roles with AI, and growing nervous about their own

A third of leaders (33%) say they have eliminated a role or skipped opening
one in the past year because they believed AI could do the job. In the
software and technology industry, that figure climbs to 52%, while in
professional services, it's only 23%. The share who believes AI will replace
most or all their employees in the next 10 years grew from 13% in 2025 to 20%
in 2026.

At the same time, leaders' confidence in their own job security is eroding.
One in 10 (10%) now believes AI is likely to replace their job within a
decade, with another 24% saying it's possible. In 2024, 65% of leaders said
they did not believe AI would replace them within 10 years-a figure that has
now fallen to 56%.

AI adoption surges, but skills gaps widen

Nearly all leaders (93%) say they personally encourage their teams to use AI,
up from 76% in 2025 and 60% in 2024. Eighty-two percent say their team uses AI
tools regularly, up from 52% in 2024. More than half (52%) have reworked team
structures and workflows around AI, up from 40% in 2025.

Yet for leaders not using AI regularly, the most cited barriers are security,
privacy or regulatory concerns (49%), a lack of clear use cases (40%),
cultural resistance (35%) and lack of leadership prioritization (35%).
Notably, 33% now say they don't have the skills needed-nearly double the 17%
who said the same in 2025.

Executive Quotes

"Leaders are getting more comfortable with AI, but comfort doesn't equal
capability," said Daniele Grassi, CEO at General Assembly. "We often see that
companies offering one-size-fits-all AI training have people at the top using
AI the same way as interns-to write emails and summarize documents. Those who
have received leadership-specific and role-specific AI training are much more
likely to pursue transformational, strategic use cases."

"As AI adoption scales, the differentiator isn't the technology itself, but
the human skills leaders also need to develop around it," said Nick Goldberg,
CEO of EZRA. "Organizations that thrive cultivate four critical leadership
behaviors: curiosity to ask brave questions about value creation, discernment
to protect quality, humility to adapt when answers aren't clear and connection
to share learning across the organization. Leadership development must also
focus on these uniquely human skills that determine whether AI drives
transformation or just incremental efficiency."

Methodology

The survey (https://pr.report/lkbf)  included responses from 524 U.S. and
U.K. business leaders at companies with at least 100 employees on April 8,
2026. Respondents included directors, vice presidents and chief officers.
General Assembly also surveyed this audience in 2024 (380 respondents) and
2025 (271 respondents).

About General Assembly

General Assembly (GA), an LHH brand, is the leading talent and upskilling
partner that helps businesses acquire the real skills required to succeed in
an increasingly complex technological era. Founded in 2011 to make
tech-centric jobs accessible to anyone and meet the demand of fast-growing
tech companies, GA evolved into a center of excellence in training people from
all backgrounds to upgrade their practical knowledge of tech skills now
required in every company and in any role. With a global presence, hands-on
instruction, and a passionate alumni community, GA gives learners 360-degree
support as they take the next step in their career journey. General Assembly
is part of LHH, the professional talent solutions arm of The Adecco Group, the
world's leading talent advisory and solutions company. GA matches the right
talent to business needs. All day, every day: GA puts real skills to work.

About EZRA

A leading global coaching and learning provider, EZRA, an LHH brand is
revolutionizing the way businesses approach employee development by leveraging
the power of behavioral science to break down barriers and make professional
coaching accessible to everyone.

Through its global network of over 2,000 world-class, accredited coaches, EZRA
has already helped thousands of companies and teams across 140 countries
quantifiably improve performance, employee retention and promotion rates with
more than 800,000 sessions delivered. Companies using EZRA today include
AstraZeneca, Coca-Cola, General Electric, Kraft Heinz, Microsoft and Spotify.

Established in 2019, EZRA is the coaching arm of LHH, part of The Adecco
Group, the world's leading talent advisory and solutions company.

To learn more about EZRA, visit: https://helloezra.com
(https://pr.report/lkbg) .

About LHH

LHH empowers professionals and organizations to achieve bold ambitions and
secure lasting impact through unique advisory services and professional talent
solutions.

LHH's full suite of offerings connects solutions, making LHH a single talent
partner for organizations. In a rapidly evolving landscape with complex
challenges, we create value across the entire professional talent journey.
From advising organizational change, to hiring great people, developing skills
and nurturing leaders, to advancing individuals to the next stage of their
careers, LHH makes talent a competitive edge.

We believe the future of work lies at the intersection of exceptional human
care and innovation. Powered by science, technology, and proprietary data
analytics, LHH's approach is crafted to align with business strategies and
cultures, delivering powerful, sustainable, and measurable impact.

LHH has a team of over 12,000 professionals, across 60+ countries and more
than 50 years of experience. As part of the Adecco Group, we bring together
global excellence, local knowledge and centralized coordination for thousands
of companies and millions of people worldwide.

Core services: Advisory · Recruitment · Tech and Human Skills Development
· Career Transition and Outplacement

Industries served: Enterprise, mid-market, and public sector organizations
globally.

Website: lhh.com (https://pr.report/lkbh)  | Phone number: 1-800-611-4544
| Media contact: PR@lhh.com

Recruitment. Development. Career Transition.

LHH. A beautiful working world.

Media Contact

Anna Rice

anna.rice@generalassemb.ly

SOURCE: General Assembly (GA)

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