Frequent AI users earn more

Northern Kentucky University commissioned a questionnaire of 1,000 U.S. respondents (700 employed adults and 300 current students) and reported frequent-AI users averaged $67,525 in annual pay versus $52,681 for non‑users, while 51% of frequent users said their job performance improved in the past year compared with 25% of non‑users. Labour‑market analytics firm Lightcast analyzed more than 1.3 billion job postings and found listings that mention AI skills advertised nearly $18,000 more per year on average, noting that 51% of AI‑skill postings in 2024 were outside IT and generative‑AI roles outside tech grew roughly 800% since 2022. Stack Overflow’s annual surveys drew large developer samples — the 2024 survey had over 65,000 respondents — and industry polls in 2023–24 consistently showed roughly seven in 10 developers using or planning to use AI coding assistants such as ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot. Company‑level compensation trackers show a smaller, role‑level AI premium than some headline reports: Levels.fyi’s Q1 2024 analysis measured mid‑single‑digit to low‑double‑digit pay differences by level (entry‑level AI vs non‑AI differences around 8.6% and engineer‑level gaps roughly 10–11% in sampled companies). Recruiting and HR metrics confirm employer demand and adoption: SHRM’s 2025 Talent Trends found 43% of organizations use AI for HR tasks (up from 26% in 2024) and that two‑thirds of HR teams using AI apply it to generate job descriptions, while Resume Genius’s 2025 survey of 1,000 hiring managers reported about eight in 10 prioritize AI‑related skills when hiring. The apparent discrepancy between dollar‑figure and percentage headlines traces to methodology: NKU’s 1,000‑person questionnaire and Lightcast’s 1.3‑billion‑posting analysis measure different populations and outcomes, and granular datasets (job‑level or company‑level pay from sources like Levels.fyi) generally show smaller premiums than broad job‑posting aggregates.