37% of Professionals Save 5-10 hours a Week Using Generative AI Tools

DENVER and SAN FRANCISCO and BERLIN – April 16, 2024 – Contentful, a leading composable content platform for digital-first businesses, has released the findings from its inaugural Generative AI Professional Usage and Perception Survey, shedding light on the perceptions, attitudes, and usage of generative AI (genAI) among professionals globally. 

Contentful surveyed 820 people across multiple industries, company sizes, and countries in various technical and non-technical roles to understand the opportunities and challenges presented by genAI in the workplace. More than three-quarters of respondents have company-paid access to genAI tools at work. Surprisingly, nearly a quarter of all respondents find these tools so valuable in a work context that they seem happy to use their own money to access them, either entirely or on top of what their employers fund. 18% of respondents said they do not expense the genAI tools they buy. 

Of all daily genAI users overall, 20% use the tech for professional purposes and 15% for personal use. 38% of respondents say they save from one to almost five hours a week using genAI tools; 37% save between five and 10 hours per week; and 11% save more than 10 hours per week.

The ways in which genAI is already changing how many people work point to a potentially fast-growing divide between the businesses that empower their employees to use these tools and those that do not. For the 11% of respondents who were not using genAI either professionally or personally, most cited the lack of opportunity and access to these tools. Several respondents indicated they were waiting for their companies to develop guidelines or policies on how to use genAI.

Karthik Rau, CEO of Contentful, notes that this study highlights how, "GenAI is here to stay. It has the power to radically transform how we work together across teams and departments. By fostering a culture of knowledge and responsible usage, organizations can empower their workforce to harness the full capabilities of genAI while unlocking the creativity of their teams."

More than two-thirds of organizations are considering plans either to apply an existing Large Language Model (LLM) to their own proprietary content or to train their own LLM. Only 31% of our survey respondents said they were unaware of any such plans in their organizations. Some (18%) already have plans and a small but forward-thinking 6% have projects underway. Of those organizations that already have or are considering plans for tailored LLMs, 49% are utilizing an existing LLM, and 42% are training their own. 

Among the notable findings:

-There is a significant gap in excitement for AI between individuals who consider themselves highly knowledgeable about genAI (in particular, those who rated themselves a “5” on a one-to-five scale) and everyone else. 

-Professionals with high genAI knowledge levels are more actively engaged in using genAI tools, already identifying its productive impact.

-The majority of respondents expressed a desire for more guidance on responsible genAI usage, indicating a need for company training and support. Although 36% say they have been given a sufficient amount of guidance from their organization on how to use genAI responsibly, 51% of respondents would like more. 

Contentful conducted the survey to ensure its customers are in the best possible position to make effective use of any technology innovation that helps them use digital content to engage and communicate with the audiences they care about. Given the rapid rise of genAI and the demonstrable enthusiasm among those who are most knowledgeable about it, businesses have much to gain by making sure all of their employees have access to these tools and the guidance they need to work with them appropriately. 

For more information on the Contentful Generative AI Professional Usage and Perception Survey, visit here.

Methodology

The survey for this research was developed by Contentful, then validated and fielded by PureSpectrum on behalf of Contentful during December 2023. Respondents were part of voluntary research panels and contacted via email to complete an online survey. Response quotas were set by country and had soft targets for a roughly even number of technical and non-technical respondents in each, job levels that covered mid-level responsibilities and seniority, a reasonable distribution across industry sectors, and a range of company sizes. Respondents came from countries including the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, and Mexico. There was not a distinct difference in the responses among the different countries.