AI-driven job changes risk widening STEM skills gaps, survey claims - Laboratory News

Workforce consultancy SThree commissioned a YouGov survey of 885 UK STEM employees, conducted between 10 July and 1 September 2026, according to a report in Laboratory News. The article's headline reads: "AI-driven job changes risk widening STEM skills gaps, survey claims." The article reports two findings from the survey and attributes both to the respondents.

Fifteen per cent of respondents said colleagues had left their organisation in the past year because artificial intelligence had changed their work beyond recognition. A separate 37% — more than a third of those surveyed — said they believe their organisation is adopting technologies such as AI too quickly to consider fully how people's roles will be affected. The excerpt does not break either figure down by sector, seniority, employer size or region, and does not state the survey's margin of error.

The article frames the findings as evidence that AI-driven job changes risk widening skills gaps in STEM fields, and attributes that claim to the survey. The excerpt does not include the survey's full question wording, its response options, or any statement from SThree or YouGov beyond the commissioning arrangement. It also does not state whether respondents were asked about their own roles, or only about colleagues and their organisations — a distinction that affects how the 15% figure should be read. No figure is given for how many organisations were represented among the 885 employees.