That feeling is usually a distorted comparison, rather than an accurate reading of where you actually stand. LinkedIn shows you the highlight reel: a 24-year-old colleague casually citing Claude, a founder boasting about doubling output with an agent. It does not show you the manager three desks over who has never opened ChatGPT, or the two-thirds of your own team quietly doing nothing with any of it. AI literacy is the measurable ability to understand, use, apply and keep up with AI tools in everyday and work tasks, tracked across specific skills rather than a single vague impression. Once you measure it properly, the generational gap turns out to be real. The scroll just lies about its shape.
Why does the comparison feel so one-sided?
LinkedIn’s feed rewards a win, not an average week, and that is why the AI comparison feels so lopsided. A colleague who tried a tool and got a good result has a reason to post about it. A colleague who tried one, got a flat result and quietly went back to their old workflow has no reason to say anything. So the feed fills up with wins and stays silent on the far larger pile of shrugs and quiet false starts. You are comparing your ordinary Tuesday against someone else’s highlight reel. Not a fair fight. It was never built to be a measurement.
What did the June 2026 IWG poll actually find?
A June 2026 poll of more than 2,000 professionals across the US and UK, run by International Workplace Group and reported by CNBC, put a real number on the generational AI gap. Nearly two-thirds of younger employees said they are actively helping older colleagues learn to use AI tools at work, from sitting with them one-to-one to sharing prompts that already work. Separately, 85% of Gen Z workers report using generative AI at work. A majority of Gen X and Boomer workers say the opposite: they have never used it at all.
| Group | Use generative AI at work | Role in the skills gap |
|---|---|---|
| Gen Z | 85% report using it | Nearly two-thirds actively coach older colleagues |
| Gen X and Boomers | A majority report never using it | Being taught, on the record, not quietly failing |
Are older workers being left behind, or just untrained?
The June 2026 IWG poll does not describe older colleagues secretly falling apart while everyone around them thrives. Most Gen X and Boomer workers who have never used generative AI simply have not tried the tools yet, which is a different and far more fixable problem than being incapable of catching up. The people best placed to close that gap are already doing it, on the clock, as part of ordinary office life. Nobody is hiding this. Nearly two-thirds of younger employees are coaching, not smirking. The gap is specific: adoption, not aptitude. That distinction is the whole difference between a problem you can act on and a feeling you just carry around.
How do you get an actual number instead of a feeling?
An assumption about where you stand cannot be acted on. A score can. The AI Literacy Score is a 14-question quiz that takes about three minutes and returns a number from 0 to 100, plus your percentile against people in your job family and country, across four dimensions: understanding AI, using it, applying it to real tasks and keeping up as it changes. It is a considered self-assessment, not a certified exam, so treat the result as a starting point rather than a verdict. You can take it at couragehorizon.com/agni.
Common questions
Is it true that younger employees are teaching older colleagues to use AI at work? Yes. A June 2026 poll of over 2,000 US and UK professionals by International Workplace Group, reported by CNBC, found that nearly two-thirds of younger employees are actively helping older colleagues adopt AI tools, through hands-on guidance and shared prompts rather than formal training.
How do I know if I’m actually behind on AI, or if I just feel that way? Feelings are not evidence. Take a structured check, such as the AI Literacy Score, which scores you across four dimensions and compares you to peers in your own job family and country rather than to a curated feed of strangers.
What counts as a good AI Literacy Score? There is no universal passing mark, because the score is relative to your peer group by job and country, not an absolute standard. A useful score is simply your own, checked once. Progress is a second number, not a better feeling.