AI Adoption Outpaces Employer Planning as Executives Turn Negative on Jobs

Overview

• A new Accenture–YouGov survey finds 31% of workers expect their job to be unrecognisable or gone within a decade and most expect to reskill.
• Executives have turned more downbeat, with 49% expecting AI to cut national employment and only 15% expecting more entry‑level hiring.
• Preparation lags inside firms, with only 26% running skills audits, many lacking broad AI training, and just 30% funding reskilling paths for at‑risk roles.
• AI use is growing at the task level, as 24% of employees source tools themselves and few teams report redesigned core processes to scale the gains.
• Hiring signals point both ways, with RNZ citing an estimated 80,000 tech layoffs this year and Microsoft reporting a 300% jump in AI‑skills job ads on LinkedIn plus 200,000 new training places in New Zealand.