One in Four US Employees Uses an App They Built With AI

Quickbase says in a survey report that 24% of US employees have used an app they built with AI for work. The September 2026 research surveyed 5,177 employees and 527 leaders in the United States. Among employees outside IT, software engineering and cybersecurity, 22% had built an app they use for work. Quickbase sells low code and no code tools for building business applications.

Overall, 38% of employees had used AI to create an app or working prototype during the previous year. Among builders, 81% created at least two apps, while 64% said their main reason was to save time or reduce manual work. Only nine of the 1,970 builders said a manager or colleague had asked them to create one.

Companies often lacked full visibility into these tools. Although 70% of leaders were highly confident they knew about every employee built app in their area, 53% said their organization had found an unknown app during the previous year. Of the apps leaders discovered, 83% became important or essential to the work, and fewer than 2% were shut down.

Security support was also limited. While 57% of leaders required a security review, only one third of builders reported access to someone who could perform one. Most apps stay small: 72% of the apps leaders discovered reached 20 people or fewer.