Gartner: AI Is Boosting Productivity but Widening Workforce Divisions in Australia

A June 2026 press release from Gartner - one of the world's leading business and technology research firms - presents findings from an Australian HR survey that paints a nuanced picture of AI in the workplace. The headline result is encouraging: AI is boosting productivity across Australian organisations. But the deeper finding is more complex. That productivity gain is not being shared equally, and the divisions it is creating may represent one of the more significant workforce challenges HR professionals will face in the next few years.

The research points to two compounding dynamics. First, uneven AI adoption - where some employees, teams and functions are using AI extensively while others have limited access or capability - is producing measurable gaps in output, advancement and influence. Second, low job confidence is emerging alongside AI adoption, suggesting that even where AI tools are improving efficiency, many workers are uncertain about their role, relevance and future in an AI-augmented environment. These two forces together create conditions where AI's productivity benefits risk becoming concentrated rather than distributed.

For HR professionals, this research underscores a critical design challenge: AI adoption without deliberate equity strategies can deepen existing workforce divides rather than close them. The organisations most likely to realise the full benefit of AI are those that invest in building capability broadly - not just deploying tools for those already best positioned to use them. This is precisely the problem the HiAi Capability Framework was designed to address: equipping HR professionals and their organisations to build AI capability across the workforce, not just at the top.

This is a publicly available Gartner press release summary. The full underlying survey data and methodology are available directly from Gartner.