New digital divide: State school leavers less likely to feel excited about AI at work
Just 41% of state-educated young people feel excited about the opportunities AI offers at work, compared with 64% of their privately educated peers, new Grant Thornton UK research reveals.
Grant Thornton UK today publishes new research showing a significant gap in how ready young people feel for a working world being reshaped by artificial intelligence (AI), and that gap runs along school lines.
Just 41% of state school leavers feel excited about the opportunities AI offers for more interesting work, against 64% of those from private schools, a 23-point gap that opens before either group has entered the workplace.
The pattern holds when young people are asked about their own careers. Only 44% of state school leavers feel confident about their prospects despite AI's growth, compared with 56% of privately educated peers. Confidence about being ready for a job where AI is used day-to-day is closer: 50% against 57%. The skills gap, in other words, is smaller than the confidence gap.
The findings land alongside a wider results day conversation about young people not in education, employment or training, and calls for a stronger technical education offer. This research adds a new dimension to that debate: the gap is not just about exam results, but about how ready different young people feel for a working world being reshaped by AI.
Malcolm Gomersall, Chief Executive Officer at Grant Thornton UK, said:
"Excitement about AI shouldn't depend on which school you went to, but right now the data is showing that it does. If we only train the graduates who arrive already comfortable with these tools, we're just augmenting the advantage some of them started with. Employers have a bigger part to play here than most are currently taking."
Abigail Fisher, Chief People Officer at Grant Thornton UK, added:
"Confidence with AI is becoming a basic requirement for work, and right now it is being handed out unevenly before anyone even applies for a job. We've put structured AI training in front of every partner and employee rather than leaving people to pick it up on their own, and we think that same approach needs to reach young people before they're job hunting, not after."
Grant Thornton UK is applying the same thinking to its own workforce. In June 2026 the firm launched GT Augment, its framework for how it governs and uses AI, rolling out Anthropic’s Claude to all partners and employees as part of a £500 million investment in digital transformation.