How workers are unlocking new ways of working

Our latest research suggests the importance of how tasks are divided and carried out alongside access to AI tools. These new tasks outside their typical job descriptions become a regular part of how workers use AI. If those activities become regular responsibilities, jobs could broaden even while their titles stay the same.

Our first Work at the Frontier report⁠ documented ‘task crossover’: workers using AI for activities historically associated with another occupation. Our latest research asks what happens next.

Analyzing more than 1.5 million work-related ChatGPT messages from April through July 2026, we find evidence that some cross-occupation AI use is recurring. Workers return to tasks outside their occupational boundaries, and these activities become a larger part of their observed AI use over time.

The findings offer an early look at how access to AI may translate from trying new tasks to incorporating those tasks into workers’ regular routines. For companies that are endeavoring to determine how best to adopt and make use of AI in their organizations, the trends identified in our four-month study of professional worker AI use and prompts represent an important window into how these companies might reduce the friction between identifying a problem and moving their overall work forward aided by AI. Our findings suggest that work design deserves a place alongside access to AI tools in how organizations implement their AI strategies.

Workers use AI differently when they move beyond their roles

Workers use AI differently depending on whether the task fits into their role in a particular domain. Workers prompt AI differently for tasks inside and outside their usual roles. When asking about tasks outside their occupation, they write shorter prompts on average than they do for tasks within it. They are also less likely to ask for explanations, how-to guidance, a specific response format, or advice.