New Delhi, May 21 -- Microsoft has warned that a widening gap is emerging between employees rapidly adopting artificial intelligence and organizations struggling to redesign work structures, leadership models, and operational systems to support that shift.

In its 2026 Work Trend Index Annual Report, the technology company said the next phase of AI transformation will not be defined simply by deploying AI tools, but by whether enterprises fundamentally rethink how work itself is organized.

The report, based on trillions of anonymized Microsoft 365 productivity signals and a survey of 20,000 AI users across 10 countries, argues that AI is moving beyond isolated automation into broader workflow participation through AI agents and collabora...