Gen Z workers are using AI more than any other generation to learn career skills, but are also the most likely to struggle when applying that knowledge in the workplace, a survey by language-learning platform Preply has found.
The research found that 92% of Gen Z respondents had used AI for learning. Yet 57% said they had found it difficult to put what they learned into practice, compared with 40% of Generation X respondents.
Preply questioned more than 5,000 working professionals in nine countries who had tried to develop a career-related skill during the previous year. The subjects included data science, AI, business management and public speaking.
The findings do not establish that AI caused the difficulties, as respondents were asked about applying learning gained through different methods. However, Gen Z workers were also more likely to feel they were making little progress despite their efforts.
Some 71% of Gen Z respondents said they felt busy learning without improving, compared with 56% of Gen X respondents.
The results point to a gap between obtaining information and being able to use it confidently. A worker might use a chatbot to produce an Excel formula, for example, and get the correct result without understanding the calculation well enough to adapt or explain it later.
Josh Crossick, Preply’s chief product officer, said learning involved acquiring knowledge, practising it and building confidence over time.
“AI is powerful. And AI is able to support in that journey, but it’s far from the whole journey,” he said.
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The survey found that learning time had risen across the workforce. Among adults aged 18 to 55, 76% said they spent more time learning than they had two years earlier, while 52% said the additional time did not always produce better results.
Improving performance in an existing role was the most common reason for learning, and 51% said their employer paid for some or all of it. The figures suggest that companies are investing in development that employees may not yet feel able to transfer directly to their work.
Crossick said human interaction remained important because practice with another person forced learners to respond as a conversation changed and work through mistakes rather than simply repeat an answer.
He drew on his experience learning Spanish while living in Spain, where a tutor combined grammar and vocabulary with rehearsals for situations such as taking his children to a doctor. The exercises required him to explain a problem and react to the replies he received.
“With another person, you’re in the role play. You have to keep going,” Crossick said.
AI can make practice material easier to access. Todd Hughes, who trains language tutors at Rosetta Stone, said he used ChatGPT to create Swedish reading passages suited to his level, describing the technology as “this huge library”.
But colleagues can offer feedback that a chatbot cannot, including explanations of workplace habits, challenges to assumptions and reactions to how someone performs in practice.
Hughes said real conversations relied on signals such as whether another person was following and actively listening. “I don’t think that AI is there yet,” he said.
Crossick said employers introducing AI should treat the technology as a starting point rather than a replacement for support. New workers, he added, needed someone who understood “the human side of the system” and could help them interpret how the organisation operated.
“The tools are just the tools,” he said. “You need to combine that with coaching and support and an understanding of how to apply those tools.”
