95% of HR professionals say employees use AI beyond official job descriptions, report finds

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming part of everyday work faster than organisations are updating job descriptions, pay structures and hiring processes. 

About 95% of HR professionals report that employees use AI tools daily in roles where the technology is not officially part of their job descriptions.

The findings come from Oyster’s 2026 Global AI Talent Report, which draws on an analysis of job descriptions for roles filled through its platform, a third-party survey of more than 1,000 global HR and people-management professionals, and data from the company’s annual Impact Report.

The report highlights a widening gap between how work is changing and how employers define roles, assess skills and reward employees.

Two-thirds of surveyed organisations have added AI skill requirements to traditionally non-technical roles, including marketing, HR and operations. However, 46% of these companies have not formally communicated the changes.

AI skills reshape job roles

Analysis found that the share of roles requiring AI skills among jobs filled through its platform has tripled since 2022, rising from 5% to 15%. 

Yet nine in 10 of these roles do not mention AI in their job titles.

AI requirements are also extending beyond technical functions, with employers seeking these skills in roles traditionally associated with business operations and people management.

The analysis found that:

• 17% of marketing coordinator roles explicitly required AI skills.

• 15% of recruiter roles included AI skill requirements.

• 10% of operations coordinator roles asked for AI skills.

Geographically, Switzerland recorded the highest share of roles requiring AI skills at 21%, followed by Poland at 20% and Portugal at 19%. The figure for the UK stood at 9%.

Commenting on the disconnect between changing work requirements and existing employment practices, Hadi Moussa, CEO at Oyster said, "Every labor market runs on a shared language for describing what people can do. Titles, credentials, years on the job. 

She added, “AI made most of that language obsolete in a matter of months, and nobody has written the replacement yet. The people making workforce decisions are often the furthest from the tools doing the work, so the shift is hardest to see from exactly the place it needs to be managed.

“Employers are relying on a hiring apparatus built for yesterday's work, and it's pointing them in the wrong direction. Rebuilding that judgement is the work of the next few months, and it isn't something you can automate your way into,” she elaborated.

Employers favour internal training

Rather than relying primarily on external recruitment to address AI skill shortages, most organisations prefer to develop capabilities within their existing workforce.

The report found that 53% of companies prefer to train existing employees when AI skills are missing, while 31% combine internal training with external hiring. Only 14% primarily recruit externally to fill these gaps.

However, the introduction of new AI requirements has not consistently translated into changes in employees’ job titles or compensation. Among companies that added AI requirements to existing roles over the past 12 months, 62% changed neither titles nor pay.

The report also examined how organisations respond when employees use AI to automate parts of their jobs. Among HR professionals surveyed, 38% said employees would be rewarded for doing so, while 26% said nothing would change. 

A further 24% said employees would be given more work, and 6% said the role would shrink.

Meanwhile, 68% of companies ask candidates what they have personally built using AI. However, among these organisations, 53% said candidates’ answers did not influence hiring or pay decisions.

The findings point to a gap between employers’ growing expectations around AI skills and the formal systems used to recognise, assess and reward those capabilities.

Global AI talent remains underused

Despite the growing demand for AI skills, international recruitment remains an underused option for companies facing shortages in their domestic labour markets.

Nearly eight in 10 companies have never turned to international hiring to address an AI talent shortage at home. Among those that have not, 26% said they were considering it.

The report found that companies prioritising external recruitment for AI skills were more likely to look abroad. Among these employers, 34% had hired internationally because they could not find AI-ready candidates domestically, compared with 18% of companies that prioritised training existing employees.

Organisations that recruit internationally also tend to build permanent teams rather than relying predominantly on contractors.

Among companies that had hired AI talent internationally, 59% most often staffed AI-related roles with full-time employees, while 34% used a combination of employees and contractors. Only 7% primarily relied on contractors.

Moussa said companies could be overlooking available talent by focusing on familiar recruitment markets.

“Founders and leaders tell me every week that the talent they need doesn't exist. They do exist. We find them every day in places nobody puts on a shortlist,” said Moussa.

Cross-border hiring raises compliance concerns

As organisations look beyond domestic markets for AI talent, employment classification and compliance are emerging as additional challenges.

The report found that 29% of companies engaging cross-border AI contractors were not confident those arrangements were correctly classified under local labour law, or had never considered the question.

Uncertainty was higher among companies that primarily staffed AI roles with contractors, at 31%, compared with 20% among those primarily employing full-time workers.

Experience with international hiring was associated with greater confidence in classification. Among companies that had hired AI talent internationally and used international contractors, 87% were confident their arrangements were properly classified, compared with 65% of companies that had never hired internationally.

The findings also highlight challenges in HR technology. 

Some 21% of HR professionals said an AI tool or self-service HR system had missed something important in a high-stakes employee situation, such as a termination or leave request.

The results underscore the importance of employment infrastructure, including local payroll, legal compliance and appropriate worker classification, as companies expand their search for AI skills across borders.