New Delhi: India has emerged as the world’s most aggressive adopter of artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace, signalling a major shift in how employees and businesses are adapting to the digital economy. The latest edition of US-based ADP Research’s report, People at Work 2026, shows that Indian employees are using generative AI tools more frequently than workers in any other major economy, placing the country at the centre of the global workplace transformation.
The report, based on responses from more than 39,000 workers across 36 markets, found that 41% of Indian employees use generative AI nearly every day, the highest share globally. More significantly, nearly 80% of workers in India said they use AI at least several times a week or more, underlining how deeply embedded the technology has become in day-to-day operations across sectors.
“Generative AI burst onto the scene in 2022 with the launch of ChatGPT and other user-friendly tools. Less than four years later, adoption is widespread. Half of workers we surveyed globally said they use AI at least multiple times a week. One in five said they use it nearly every day,” says the report released by ADP Research, which provides data-driven insights on labour markets, the global economy, and workplace dynamics.
India’s rapid AI integration reflects both the country’s “digital maturity” and its competitive labour market. From IT services and consulting firms to startups and financial institutions, companies are increasingly positioning AI as a productivity multiplier and operational necessity rather than an experimental technology.
Nela Richardson, Chief Economist and ESG Officer, Head of ADP Research, said advances in AI have “set the labour market on an uncharted path and given rise to new challenges and new opportunities”.
Productivity Paradox Emerges
The report, however, points to a striking contradiction at the heart of the AI boom. While AI adoption is surging, employees are not necessarily feeling more productive.
“Daily users of AI were four times more likely than non-users of AI to say they were less productive than they could be,” says the report. “It’s possible that the more people use AI to get their work done, the more it feels like they’ve accomplished less than they might have.”
The findings suggest that AI is reshaping employee psychology as much as workplace efficiency. Workers who frequently use AI reported higher engagement levels and lower stress, but also expressed concerns about whether they were “contributing enough independently”. The study noted that 30% of daily AI users globally were fully engaged at work, compared with only 14% among workers who never used AI.
This contradiction is particularly relevant for India, where companies are under pressure to maintain high growth and global competitiveness while navigating automation-led disruption. Indian employees are simultaneously embracing AI and confronting anxieties about workload, relevance and productivity measurement.
“AI’s potential to improve productivity is the new workforce paradigm. But employers need to invest in skills, both technology- and people-based, to unlock AI’s potential,” Richardson said.
The report also indicates that familiarity with AI significantly improves worker confidence. Employees who used AI more frequently were more optimistic about how the technology would affect their jobs and were more likely to believe their positions were secure from elimination.
The ADP Research report positions India as both the laboratory and frontline of the global AI workplace revolution — a market moving faster than any other, but also confronting the social and organisational tensions that come with technological disruption at scale. (Photo by Hitesh Choudhary on Unsplash)
India’s Workplace Stress Deepening
The AI transition is unfolding alongside broader concerns over employee burnout and workplace engagement in India. The report found that India’s worker engagement rate dropped sharply to 15% in 2025 from 19% a year earlier, continuing a slide from the record high of 23% recorded in 2023.
“What’s going on? Workers in India put in long hours and complain of digital overload. Parliament is weighing a Right to Disconnect bill amid growing concern about work spilling into personal time,” says the report. “India’s long and fragmented workdays drain worker energy, reduce focus, and make it harder to sustain enthusiasm at work.”
The findings underscore the pressure created by India’s always-connected work culture, especially in sectors that rapidly adopted hybrid work and AI-driven workflows. The report noted that India also recorded the world’s highest share of employees working significant unpaid overtime. About 24% of Indian workers reported putting in 16 or more unpaid hours every week, the highest among all surveyed markets.
The consequences, according to the report, are severe. Employees clocking excessive unpaid hours were more likely to feel stressed, less productive and more inclined to seek new jobs despite remaining highly engaged with their work.
“People who put in unpaid hours are more likely to feel unproductive and stressed. They’re also more likely to quit,” Richardson warned.
The report’s findings arrive at a time when Indian companies are accelerating investments in AI-enabled systems, automation tools and digital transformation programmes. Industry executives increasingly view AI adoption as central to maintaining global competitiveness, particularly as multinational corporations shift more technology operations and innovation functions to India.
Global AI Capital Faces Skills Test
India’s emergence as the global leader in workplace AI adoption also brings into focus the country’s widening skills challenge. Despite the rapid uptake of AI tools, worker confidence about long-term career advancement remains fragile.
The report found that only 30% of Indian workers strongly believed their jobs were safe from elimination, even as AI users tended to express greater optimism about job security than non-users. Across markets, employees who felt their employers invested in skill development were more than five times as likely to feel secure in their jobs.
“Investment in human capital is required to build and nurture trust, cultivate loyalty, and ignite and sustain productivity,” says the report. “By keeping employees at the centre of change, employers can deliver on the promise of an AI-powered and fully engaged workforce.”
The findings are likely to intensify conversations around workforce reskilling, digital learning and employee well-being in India’s corporate sector. As enterprises race to integrate AI into workflows, experts warn that technology adoption without corresponding investment in human capability could deepen stress and disengagement.