The State of AI at Work, published by Kristian Kabashi and The Blank Collar, shows that adoption is widespread, but 87% of users are still beginners
Switzerland, 24th Jun 2026 — Kristian Kabashi, the technology executive and analyst who developed The Blank Collar transformation practice for the intelligence age, today announced the publication of a new field report, The State of AI at Work. The report reveals a significant gap between corporate expectations of artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace versus actual results. The report shows that while AI adoption is widespread, 87% of workers use AI at the beginner level. Just 13% use AI for meaningful work.
According to Kabashi, “Your company bought AI, but nobody changed. At some level, we’ve seen this with every major technology shift over the years, but in the case of AI, these results are quite disappointing. The technology has such vast promise, but, in my view, it’s not being used the right way.”
The Zurich-based Kabashi comes to his perspective on AI after spending two decades as a creative, a builder, and a transformer. He served in senior executive roles in global enterprises such as Dentsu and the Havas agency, as well as being the founder of Cybee.ai and the AI company Numarics, which was acquired in 2024.
The Blank Collar has been Kabashi’s philosophical home since 2018. The Blank Collar’s slogan is, “Work is for bots. Life is for humans.” It is the successor to the idea of white-collar employment. While blue collars built the industrial age, and white collars led the way in the information age, blank collars will build the intelligence age—directing AI agents instead of doing the routine work themselves.
The problem, as Kabashi sees it, is that so few workers move past the experimenter line into work that pays for itself. What blocks proficiency is not prompting. “People can learn to in an afternoon,” Kabashi said. “They get stuck one step earlier, on a blank question, which is ‘What do I even point this at?’ They open the tool, summarize one email, and bounce, because nothing in the actual job comes pre-labeled, give this to AI.”
Kabashi calls this the “use case desert.” The real issue, in his view, however, is a lack of leadership. “I don’t want to point fingers. This is all so new, it’s not surprising that senior executives aren’t quite plugged into what’s going to work. But, everyone better get busy pretty soon, because the companies that figure this out—who can rise above 13% meaningful AI use—are going to be strong competitive performers.”
To learn more, visit https://www.theblankcollar.com/
To download the report, visit https://www.theblankcollar.com/reports/the-state-of-ai-at-work.pdf
About The Blank Collar
The Blank Collar is a philosophy, a framework, and an engine, a transformation practice for the intelligence age. The term was coined in 2016. The practice was founded in 2018. By the time the world had a vocabulary for what was coming, The Blank Collar already had a thesis, a method, and a name. The term “Blank Collar” refers to a new kind of professional who works alongside AI agents, directing, orchestrating, framing, and keeping what no machine can take.
Media Contact
Organization: The Blank Collar
Contact Person: Kristian Kabashi
Website: https://www.theblankcollar.com
Email: Send Email
Country:Switzerland
Release id:46443
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