AI reshaping work: workers adopt cross-occupation tasks

OpenAI’s latest research reveals how workers are integrating AI into their workflows by performing tasks outside their traditional roles. Analyzing over 1.5 million ChatGPT messages from April to July 2026, the study shows that cross-occupation AI use is becoming recurring. Workers return to these tasks, with previously used cross-occupation activities increasing from 13.1% to 25.9% of occupation-specific AI activity over the four-month period. The findings suggest that AI is helping workers incorporate new responsibilities into their regular routines, potentially broadening job roles without changing job titles. Workers prompt AI differently for tasks outside their usual roles, using shorter prompts and less guidance, but more examples and verification requests. Some tasks, like explaining financial information, see lower return rates, while others show higher recurrence, possibly due to how well AI fits into existing workflows. OpenAI emphasizes that these shifts highlight the need for organizations to rethink work design alongside AI adoption, as AI may reshape jobs before their titles change.