Over the past year, generative AI has gone from experiment to everyday work across Nordic workplaces. A recent report from Solita – conducted by Kantar among more than 3,000 knowledge workers in Sweden, Finland and Denmark – shows how fast that shift has been. But behind the rising numbers sits a gap worth pausing on: almost everyone expects AI to change their work, yet few are preparing for it.
Adoption has taken off
Adoption is no longer marginal. In Denmark, 65 percent of knowledge workers use generative AI at work, in Finland 62 percent, and in Sweden 53 percent – a figure that has more than doubled from 25 percent in a year. Daily use is growing too: roughly one in four Danish knowledge workers uses AI every day. The technology has become part of the toolkit, not a one-off.
The gap between expectation and preparation
This is where the report's most striking finding comes in. Between 76 and 81 percent believe AI will change their work within five years. But only 6 to 14 percent consider AI literacy crucial for their careers, and around 40 percent say AI literacy is not important at all. Solita calls it a gap of 66 to 70 percentage points between what people expect and how they are equipping themselves.
In other words, most people see the change coming but aren't putting in the time to build the knowledge and habits it will take to meet it. That isn't a technical problem. It's a readiness problem.
Access is not the same as value
We recognise this. A tool being in place doesn't mean it delivers value. We often see companies roll AI out broadly, meet an initial curiosity, and then watch it plateau – not because the models are too weak, but because the work around them never changed. Access is step one. Changing how work is actually organised around the tools is step two, and that's where the value sits.
The report also points to a risk of overconfidence: roughly a third say AI has improved their critical thinking, and people are two to four times more likely to see that improvement in themselves than in their colleagues. When many believe they are already using AI well, it's easy to stop learning.
Structure that enables, not blocks
A more hopeful finding: clear guidelines don't hold usage back – they raise it. The countries with stronger governance have the highest adoption, and Denmark, which leads, also has the most people who always follow their employer's AI guidelines. Sweden stands out the other way: 14 percent of organisations lack guidelines according to their employees, double the share in Finland.
That matches how we think. Frameworks and ownership aren't bureaucracy standing in AI's way – they're what lets people use it in earnest.
Where Nodal comes in
The gap between expectation and preparation can be closed, but not by buying more tools. It's closed by picking one workflow that matters, rebuilding it around AI so it genuinely saves time, and giving it a clear owner – then building on from there. That's the part we at Nodal work on every day.
If you want to move from having access to AI to getting real value from it, get in touch with us. We'll have an open conversation and find where a sensible first step lies.
