A PwC survey finds that artificial intelligence has created a divide between companies most exposed to the technology, and those least exposed.

PwC’s 2026 Global AI Jobs Barometer analyses over a billion job ads from six continents to show that AI is creating a two-track labour market in which skills like judgment and leadership are even more critical — and more rewarded.

AI links directly to significant productivity gains and, surprisingly, rising wages and headcount. It is accelerating skills transformation and changing entry-level work.

“AI is rapidly reshaping the skills employers want most from workers — increasing the emphasis on human skills such as judgment, creativity and leadership — as companies most able to use AI continue to expand, hiring faster than their peers,” PwC stated.

Chris Mills, partner, PwC Bermuda commented: “The traditional connection between experience and expertise is shifting.

“With AI handling many routine tasks that once provided practical learning opportunities, there is now greater emphasis on judgment, leadership and adaptability much earlier in professional journeys.

“Success will depend on how effectively organisations across sectors can build new capabilities and adapt to changing skills demands, with financial services emerging as one of the fastest-moving sectors in this transition.”

His colleague, Joe Atkinson, global chief AI officer, said: “Across the global economy, we’re beginning to see a new divide emerge between different models for talent and value creation.

“The companies seeing the greatest returns on AI are using it to amplify human expertise, accelerate innovation and create entirely new sources of value.

“As a result, they are pulling further ahead on productivity and growth than companies that focus primarily on automation.”

Jobs Barometer combines large-scale labour market, company financial and occupational task data to understand how AI is reshaping jobs, skills, wages and productivity across the global economy.

The survey found that “professionalised” roles — in which AI automates routine tasks so human judgment and expertise are emphasised — are growing faster than roles “democratised” by AI — in which AI makes the role itself easier for non-experts to perform.

Companies operating in the most AI-exposed sectors recorded 34 per cent productivity growth in 2025 relative to 2018, compared to 24 per cent for the companies least able to use AI.