In the past few years, AI tools have entered the rank-and-file mainstream—and now, being skilled with the tech is increasingly a prerequisite for employees. AI fluency is quickly becoming table stakes; Anu Madgavkar, a partner at the McKinsey Global Institute, predicts that up to half of professionals’ working lives could be transformed by advanced tech by the turn of the decade.
“We have a ton of research that suggests anything from 30% to 50% of a person’s work hours and work activities could transform and change in the coming three to five years,” Madgavkar recently said during the “What Do We Mean By ‘AI Fluency?’” panel hosted by McKinsey at Fortune’s Workplace Innovation Summit.
AI fluency has become a hot topic among employers, as described by a McKinsey partner as workers’ ability to leverage tools in their professional tasks. And the management consulting firm has found that the efficiencies are already here; today’s technology can theoretically automate activities that account for about 57% of U.S. work hours, according to a 2025 McKinsey report. AI agents can currently automate tasks that account for 44% of Americans’ work hours, and robots can even take on 13% of the time employees clock in. And no career is immune to a revamp: McKinsey found that every job will require skill changes by 2030.
