Workday Finds Demand for Basic AI Skills Fell 25%

Oct 5, 2026
Workday found that demand for basic AI skills fell 25% in 2026, while demand for building AI tools, automating workflows and AI engineering rose 51%.

Workday, Inc. says demand for basic AI skills fell 25% after peaking in January 2026, according to a report it released in a press release. Demand for skills in building AI tools, automating workflows and AI engineering rose 51% from September 2025 to July 2026.

The report found that 40% of business leaders expect AI to increase output from current employees, while 28% expect it to reduce headcount. Among surveyed employees, 79% said they understood which skills they needed, but 66% said their employer helped them develop those skills.

Internal moves declined at 57% of employers, while promotion rates remained largely unchanged. Workday also found that 84% of job seekers used AI during their search, and the median number of applicants for each filled position rose from 58 to 69 over one year.

The findings draw on workforce data from Workday customers, job posting data from about 550 employers, a global survey of 6,001 employees and business leaders, and a separate AI@Work Pulse survey of 5,944 workers.

We hope you enjoyed this article

Consider subscribing to one of our newsletters like Daily AI Brief.

Also, consider following us on social media:

AI Brief AI Brief (X)
Free newsletter

Daily AI Brief

Daily report covering major AI developments and industry news, with both top stories and complete market updates

AI Token Webinar

Whitepaper

Tensordyne Napier: What If One Rack Could Do the Work of Nine?

Tensordyne

This Tensordyne whitepaper presents Napier, an inference-focused AI processor and rack-scale system based on the company’s TDN Math logarithmic number system. It examines infrastructure requirements for large mixture-of-experts and agentic models, compares major inference architecture approaches, and details the TDN AIP processor, TDN72 pod, TDN Link fabric, and Napier Ultra configuration. The paper reports simulation-based performance, cost, and accuracy-validation results, including Tensordyne’s projected comparison of one Napier rack with a nine-rack Nvidia Rubin plus Groq deployment; the chip is reported as taped out and in fabrication.

Read more

You may also like

Free, six days a week

Daily AI Brief: the AI news that matters, in your inbox.