OpenAI Finds Cross-Occupation AI Use Doubles to 25.9% as Workers Fold New Tasks Into Jobs
Updated
Updated · OpenAI · Sep 16
OpenAI Finds Cross-Occupation AI Use Doubles to 25.9% as Workers Fold New Tasks Into Jobs
3 articles · Updated · OpenAI · Sep 16
Summary
25.9% of occupation-specific AI activity in July came from previously used cross-occupation tasks, up from 13.1% in April among about 6,200 workers tracked consistently.
More than 1.5 million work-related ChatGPT messages from April to July 2026 showed workers repeatedly returning to tasks outside their formal roles, suggesting AI use is moving from experimentation into routine workflows.
23.6% of workers revisited a cross-occupation task the next month, versus 8.4% among comparable workers with no prior observed use, indicating prior AI-assisted task adoption strongly predicts recurrence.
54% of workers returned to customer-discussion tasks the following month, 44% to advertising writing and 37% to marketing materials, while explaining financial information returned only 15% of the time.
OpenAI said the pattern points to job expansion before title changes, with work design—not just access to AI tools—likely shaping how companies deploy AI.