Perception Gap and Regional Disparities in AI Adoption Highlighted in UK Workplace Study

• National study carried out by Yorkshire-based software firm reveals that four in five early-career workers think AI will replace people – but only two-thirds of senior leaders agree.

• Up to a third of workers in some parts of the UK have little direct experience of AI.

• Public sector and healthcare workers show the highest levels of concern about AI’s impact.

A major new UK study has revealed a widening perception gap around artificial intelligence in the workplace, with early-career professionals significantly more concerned about AI’s impact than senior leaders.

According to the latest annual technology survey from Yorkshire-based software development firm, Propel Tech, four out of five early-career professionals (80%) believe AI will replace people in most areas of work, compared with just 65% of senior leaders.

Now in its third year, the Propel Tech survey has gathered responses from more than 1,000 professionals across all sectors, regions and levels of seniority, providing a view of how attitudes to software and AI are shifting across the UK workforce and where tension is emerging.

Geography adds another layer to the perception gap, revealing what amounts to a growing postcode lottery in how AI is experienced across the UK workforce.

While four in five professionals in the South of England report having worked on AI projects, exposure drops to around seven in ten in the North and Midlands and closer to two-thirds in Wales and Scotland, leaving up to a third of workers in some regions with little experience.

The findings highlight a clear regional gradient in AI outcomes. Nearly half of projects in the South are reported as successful or progressing well, compared with around the mid-30% range in the North and Midlands and as low as 30% in Wales and Scotland.

The data suggests that where AI delivers results, confidence follows, but where projects struggle or expose data weaknesses, anxiety grows. This reinforces the sense that the UK’s AI challenge is not just about adoption, but about capability, infrastructure and readiness across different regional ecosystems.

David Ritchie, Propel Tech Founder, says: “The issue isn’t whether AI is happening, it clearly is. The challenge is how it’s being introduced, and who feels involved in shaping it.”

Across three years of surveys, early-career professionals consistently view AI as something deeply personal, affecting wellbeing, work quality and long-term employability. Senior leaders, by contrast, are more likely to frame AI as a strategic capability, a source of analytics, efficiency and organisational control.

The perception gap is most pronounced in sectors where AI is changing human roles and interactions. Respondents in the public sector, healthcare and education report some of the highest levels of concern, with up to 80% believing AI could replace roles and around 75% worried it could cause more harm than good. Creative, charity and third-sector organisations show similarly high levels of anxiety, reflecting heightened sensitivity to ethical and workforce implications.

By contrast, technology and professional services report lower levels of fear, where AI is more commonly seen as an augmentation tool rather than a threat. Manufacturing and traditional industries sit between the two extremes, with respondents particularly likely to report that AI initiatives expose underlying data and process weaknesses, adding to feelings of disruption.

Andy Brown, Co-Founder at Propel Tech, concludes: ”As AI adoption accelerates, the study highlights a clear lesson for business and public-sector leaders alike: closing the perception gap is as important as improving the technology itself. AI systems designed around real workflows, transparent trade-offs and human outcomes are far more likely to build trust than those delivered top-down.”