AI & The Generations: A Millennial’s Field Guide to Who’s Actually Using This Stuff

I’m a Millennial—which means I learned to type on a clacky school computer, survived dial-up internet noises, and sent my first texts with T9 thumbs of steel. We were the first cohort to come of age with all four constantly in the background: TV, a home computer, the mobile phone era, and the internet. No wonder we’re pretty comfy asking a bot to draft the email we’ve been avoiding.

Meanwhile, Baby Boomers (now ~61–79) deserve a standing ovation. They rode every wave: first mass-market TV, the home PC boom, the brick-phone to smartphone leap, and now AI—decades of “another new thing” whizzing by. Gen X had a front-row seat too—mix tapes to MP3s, floppy disks to the cloud—so adapting is basically a personality trait. And Gen Z? They were born with Wi-Fi. Respect.

So…who’s actually using AI at work?

• Globally, a majority of younger workers already use GenAI at work: 57% of Gen Z and 56% of Millennials say it’s in their day-to-day; around 29–30% use it “all or most of the time.” That’s not dabbling—that’s habit. Deloitte+1

• On daily use, a fun twist: Millennials lead among desk workers (33%), edging Gen Z (28%). We might be the “stealth power users” after all. SlackNo Jitter

• In the U.S., the adoption gap is real: 42% of Gen X and 56% of Boomers say they never use AI at work. Translation: lots of room for enablement (and better onboarding). randstadusa.comStaffing Industry

And outside work?

We’re not just prompting for spreadsheets. In one UK sample of working adults, 60.2% use AI at least monthly; among regular users, 83.6% use it for personal stuff and 54.2% at work. Dinner ideas, trip planning, life admin—plus the reports your boss loves. Definition

Will people ask AI instead of people?

Sometimes, yes—especially the younger crowd. In Slack’s research, 33% of Millennials and 30% of Gen Z say they frequently ask AI for help instead of a colleague (vs. 23% Gen X, 13% Boomers). So if a coworker replies in 3 seconds with a perfect paragraph… maybe they’ve got a copilot. Slack

What the split actually means (and what to do about it)

• Boomers & Gen X aren’t “anti-tech”—they’ve just been asked to relearn the world, repeatedly. Give them low-friction first wins (draft that email, summarize that meeting), plus clear guardrails and you’ll see the needle move. The U.S. “never-use” rates show the opportunity. randstadusa.com

• Millennials & Gen Z are already building daily workflows. For them, level up from “neat tricks” to repeatable playbooks: research → draft → refine → package → measure. And yes, please keep the training snacksized. Slack

• Everyone benefits from basics: which tools are approved, what data can/can’t be shared, and how to check outputs. (If you’ve ever pasted customer data into a free chatbot… let’s talk policy.) Definition

The generational vibe check (highly scientific, not really)

• Boomers: “We’ve adapted to everything from color TV to iPhones; we’ll adopt AI—just show us it’s worth it.”

• Gen X: “I’ll try it; if it saves an hour, it stays.”

• Millennials (hi): “Ahead of the curve? Maybe. Mostly we like saving time.”

• Gen Z: “If it doesn’t autocomplete my life, why is it even here?”

Sources & further reading

• Deloitte (2025 Gen Z & Millennial Survey): Majority of Gen Z/Millennials already use GenAI at work; 29–30% use it “all/most of the time.” Deloitte+1

• Slack Workforce Index (2025): Millennials lead daily AI use (33%) vs. Gen Z (28%); additional takeaways via Slack/NoJitter coverage. SlackNo Jitter

• Randstad Workmonitor Pulse (Nov 2024): Gen X (42%) and Boomers (56%) report never using AI at work (U.S.). randstadusa.comStaffing Industry

• Definition (2025): Personal vs. work usage among regular users (83.6% personal; 54.2% work).