1 In 5 Americans Secretly Use AI At Work — And Its Paying Off

A new survey reveals that one in five American professionals are secretly using artificial intelligence tools at work without official approval — and many say its boosting their confidence, efficiency and bottom line.

The survey of 1,000 U.S. business owners, marketers and salespeople, commissioned by ActiveCampaign and conducted by Talker Research, found that 20% have felt the need to “sneak” AI into their workflow, even when company policy doesnt permit it. Despite that, 48% of respondents use AI daily, while only 9% reported never using it at all in an official capacity.

The growing use of AI appears to be having measurable benefits. On average, respondents said AI saves them 13 hours per week, with daily users reporting an average of 14 hours saved — more than twice as much as those using AI less than once a month. Financially, the trend is also significant: respondents say AI use is saving businesses an average of $4,739 a month in operational costs, rising to $5,038 for daily users.

Nearly four in five (77%) of respondents said they feel more confident in the quality of their work when they use AI, and 75% believe AI tools give them an edge over larger, more established competitors. The findings also showed that 82% of those using AI in the workplace are doing so in marketing — primarily for imagination (52%), activation (48%), or validation (44%). Others are leveraging it for customer support (31%), people management (28%), and product tasks (25%).

“While some businesses are still figuring out how to integrate AI into their core operations, many have moved beyond experimentation to strategic implementation, focusing not just on what AI can do for them, but on how it creates measurably better outcomes for their customers,” said Jason VandeBoom, Founder and CEO of ActiveCampaign. “Were seeing people discover AIs impact on their bottom line in real time, whether thats increased revenue or time saved. Often, it starts with a personal aha moment where they experience AIs power firsthand, which then naturally evolves into professional adoption and business transformation.”

Yet not all respondents are fully on board. Twenty-one percent of employees worry that AI might replace their jobs, while 20% cited concerns about poor-quality output. Another 19% fear it could erode customer trust, and 17% noted hearing negative feedback from others. More than half (57%) said theyd either held or heard negative views about AI, often from social media or clients. Still, 20% admitted they were once the biggest skeptics themselves.

Nine in ten respondents had used AI for both personal and professional tasks, and two-thirds said their introduction to the technology came in their personal life. On average, it took about six weeks for users to understand how best to use AI, whether at home or work.

Respondents said AI helped them become more efficient at task completion and resource allocation (39%), more confident in their work quality (29%), and more creative in marketing (37%). Marketing was overwhelmingly seen as the department benefiting most from AI (82%), followed by design and creative (78%) and analytics (75%).

“Marketing is where AI really shines because it amplifies human creativity rather than replacing it,” said Amy Kilpatrick, Chief Marketing Officer of ActiveCampaign. “Our survey shows 82% find AI especially effective for marketing because it handles the time-consuming tasks — like data analysis and content ideation — so marketers can focus on strategy and building genuine connections with their audience. The result is better work delivered faster, which ultimately benefits both the business and the customer.”