UK workers spend nearly £1bn a year of their own money on AI tools for work, Deloitte finds

British workers spend about £958 million each year out of pocket on generative AI tools for work, according to a Deloitte UK survey of 25,000 people. Of those using these tools, 17% pay for at least one themselves.

This spending is part of a larger trend that employers do not fully see. About 63% of UK working adults aged 18 to 70 knowingly use generative AI at work, and nearly a quarter use it daily. Most use free tools (46%), while 34% use tools paid for by their employer and 17% use in-house tools.

Much of this use goes unnoticed. Nearly a third (31%) of users say they use generative AI without their employer knowing, a practice often called shadow AI. Almost a quarter (23%) feel there is a stigma around using it at work, and among weekly users, 64% worry their manager might think AI could replace them.

Hayley McKelvey, Deloitte UK’s chief AI officer, said the numbers show workers “don’t want to wait for permission,” so many use free tools or pay for premium versions themselves. She added that those who feel stigmatized are more likely to hide their use, and leaders should help staff “use AI responsibly, with a clearly articulated and well-understood goal.”

Employers are not providing enough support. About half of workers using generative AI have had no formal training on safe use, and 65% say leadership has given them little guidance.

“The story here isn’t that workers are using GenAI; it’s that they are using it despite limited training, patchy guidance and, in some cases, without their employer’s knowledge,” said Paul Lee, head of industry insight at Deloitte UK.

He argued that companies will benefit most if they do more than just provide access and instead teach people to use the tools with clear rules and a clear purpose.

Most tasks are routine. The most common uses are searching for information and drafting emails, each mentioned by 43% of users, followed by summarizing documents at 31%. Users estimate these tools save them about 70 minutes a week on average, though the survey did not measure this directly.

Company budgets show a smaller picture, at least in the US, where the median employer spends about $11 per employee each month on AI, according to data from the fintech company Ramp.

Ipsos UK conducted the survey online from 7 May to 10 June 2026, using quotas for age, gender, working status, industry, and region, and adjusted the results to match the offline population.

Source link