Gallagher survey flags AI training surge & risk gap

Gallagher has published findings from its latest AI Adoption and Risk Survey, which covered more than 1,200 businesses and points to rising corporate spending on AI training.

The survey found that 62% of businesses had delivered AI training to employees over the past year, while 55% had hired for AI-focused roles. It also found that 86% of respondents believed AI had improved employee productivity.

The figures suggest many employers now view AI as a workplace tool rather than a trial project. Businesses are increasingly building formal training programmes and creating roles in which AI is a core part of the remit.

That expansion has not been matched everywhere by oversight. While 56% of organisations said they had communicated their AI strategy to employees, 43% had yet to introduce a formal AI risk management framework.

Only 44% had carried out AI impact assessments linked to workplace use of the technology. The gap suggests adoption is moving faster than governance in a significant share of organisations.

Training push

Gallagher's data also showed that 47% of businesses are offering training to help employees use AI tools, up 7 percentage points from the previous year. Separately, 40% said they had created new roles in which AI is a central part of the job.

The survey covered 1,250 organisations of different sizes across the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Gallagher, which operates in insurance brokerage, risk management and consulting, has tracked AI adoption trends for three years.

The findings add to a broader picture of companies trying to turn AI experimentation into regular business practice. Employers appear to be investing in both technical support and workforce preparation as staff use generative AI and other tools in day-to-day work.

Human skills

The research also found that companies still value work they believe should remain human-led. The most commonly cited reason for protecting jobs was the need to retain creative, forward-thinking staff.

Other reasons included preserving a human touch in client interactions, cited by 34% of respondents, and ensuring people remained available to solve complex problems that technology could not handle independently, cited by 31%.

Those responses suggest employers are not simply treating AI as a substitute for labour. Instead, many appear to be pursuing a model in which software takes over repetitive work while employees focus on judgement, creativity and client-facing tasks.

Ben Warren echoed that view in comments accompanying the survey. "For many global companies, AI is no longer in the test phase. It's in the workplace, shaping strategy and powering productivity. Training programs are on the rise, equipping employees for a future where human ingenuity and AI agents will work hand in hand. We know what AI can do, and the potential is undeniable. It can handle repetitive and manual tasks, freeing employees to spend less time on menial work and more on what really matters: creative ideation and meeting clients.

"At the same time, our findings suggest that governance frameworks are still catching up with the pace of adoption. As organizations scale their use of AI, risk oversight and clear policies will become increasingly important. Overall, the long-term value of AI will depend on combining technological efficiency with human creativity, judgement and trust," said Warren, Managing Director of People Data, AI and Innovation at Gallagher.