A new report from Businessolver put a number on something small-business owners feel every week. Nearly half of employees, 49%, get little or no training on the AI tools their companies are buying. They teach themselves. And the ones who do get real training pull ahead, because someone showed them how to use the tools.
That is the finding worth your attention. If you run a shop, an agency, a practice, or a one-person company, you are both the boss buying the tools and the person who has to learn them. The report says the difference between AI helping you and AI threatening you comes down to one thing. Training.
What did the Businessolver report find about AI at work?
The 2026 State of Workplace Empathy AI Special Report, released August 11, 2026, surveyed more than 1,300 U.S. employees and executives across six industries. It was conducted with Edelman Data & Intelligence and fielded in March and April 2026. Nearly 3 in 10 CEOs, 28%, said cutting headcount is the main reason they invest in AI.
of employees get little or no training on the AI tools their companies are buying.
Source: Businessolver, 2026That number sits uneasily next to another one. In the same survey, 60% of C-suite leaders said AI adoption creates a much greater need to show empathy. So the people signing the AI checks are split. Some see a way to trim payroll. Most see work that calls for more humanity, not less.
Employees feel the tension. The report found 39% said AI makes them concerned about their future at their organization. Another 31% worry they are falling behind on how to use AI in their role. The stress is real. Among employees worried about AI's impact on their future, 64% reported a mental health issue in the past year, compared with 50% of employees who feel optimistic about AI.
Why does AI training decide who gets ahead?
Businessolver found training is the single thing separating employees who feel AI is advancing their careers from those who feel threatened. Trained people reported up to 1.5x more career progression, confidence, and optimism than those left to figure it out alone. The tools were the same. The results were not.
Read that again if you run a small team. Talent did not decide the outcome. Role did not decide it. Whether someone got structured training did.
Talent did not decide the outcome. Role did not decide it. Whether someone got structured training did.
Here is one way to think about what "trained" actually means. At the first level, a person types requests into AI the way they would type into a search box. The results feel inconsistent because they are. Training moves that same person up a level, where they give AI clear instructions: who the output is for, what they need, the format, and at least one constraint. Better input produces better output. That is often the whole difference between an employee who trusts the tool and one who fears it.
What does this mean if you run a small business?
You do not have an HR department to build an AI curriculum. You are it. The report studied big-company employees, but the lesson applies just as cleanly to a two-person agency or a solo practice: whoever provides structured training decides whether AI accelerates the work or scares the people doing it. In your business, that person is you.
"No matter your role, there's no way to know it all with AI, it's just changing too quickly," said Jon Shanahan, President and CEO of Businessolver. That is oddly freeing. Almost no one has it all figured out. You are not late to a race everyone else finished. You are early to a practice that many companies still skip, since 49% of employees get no real training.
How do you build AI training when you are the whole team?
You do not need a budget or a course. You need a repeatable practice. Here is a version you can start this week:
- Pick one task you do every week. Writing quotes, drafting emails, summarizing calls, whatever eats your time.
- Before you prompt, write down four things: who the output is for, what you need, the format you want, and one constraint. This is the habit that lifts you past search-box prompting.
- Run it. Then push back on the first answer. Ask "what am I missing?" and "give me two alternatives." That single step turns AI into a thinking partner instead of a vending machine.
- Save the prompt that worked and reuse it. Now you have training material, built from your own business, for free.
If you employ anyone, walk them through the same four steps on one of their tasks. Ten minutes of showing beats a year of hoping they figure it out.
"The future of AI at work will be determined by organizations that bring their people along on the journey," said Sony SungChu, Chief AI Officer at Businessolver. For a small business, "their people" might be one part-time assistant. Bring them along anyway.
Your next step
Pick the one task you most wish you had help with. Write your four lines, who it is for, what you need, the format, one constraint, and run it once today. That is your first training session. You just moved from reading about AI to practicing it, which is exactly where the people who feel ahead started.
Related reading: Level 2: The Ensign (Prompt Engineer).
Sources
- 3 In 10 CEOs Say Cutting Headcount Is Primary Driver of AI Investment, Even As Most Say AI Demands More Empathy
- Businessolver 2026 State of Workplace Empathy Report
Frequently Asked Questions
How much AI training do employees actually get?
Not much. In the Businessolver report, 49% of employees said they receive little or no employer-sponsored AI training and are left to figure it out on their own.
Does AI training really change career outcomes?
According to the report, yes. Trained employees reported up to 1.5x stronger career progression, confidence, and optimism than untrained peers using the same tools.
Is AI mostly about cutting jobs?
For some leaders, partly. 28% of CEOs said headcount reduction is their primary reason for investing in AI. But 60% of C-suite executives said AI creates a much greater need to show empathy, so the picture is mixed.
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