Knowledge base
Study: millennials understand AI best. What does that say about your team?
By Bob Biesemans · published on
According to the Mediawijzer study, millennials in Flanders understand best how AI works, while Gen Z uses it most. What does that mean for an SME?
Short answer
According to the Mediawijzer study by Arteveldehogeschool among 4,456 people in Flanders, millennials on average understand best how AI works, while Gen Z uses it most. Using AI a lot is not the same as understanding it. The lesson for an SME: don't guess by age, measure everyone the same way.
What the study found
The Mediawijzer is a large survey of 4,456 people in Flanders by Arteveldehogeschool, commissioned by the Flemish government. HLN reports that millennials, on average, have the best understanding of how artificial intelligence works.
Notably, Gen Z uses AI most often, but that does not make them the group that understands it best. On other points young people score well, such as recognising images made with AI. The researchers sum it up as: with AI, using it a lot and understanding it well do not go together.
Using is not the same as understanding
That matches what we see at work. Opening a chatbot every day does not mean someone spots a wrong answer, knows which data doesn't belong in it, or checks a result before it goes to a customer.
Conversely, someone who rarely uses AI can understand its limits very well. How often a person opens a tool says little about how safely and sensibly they use it.
An average per generation says nothing about one employee
A study of groups gives averages. Every age group includes people who understand AI very well and people who struggle. Deciding who needs training based on age is guesswork, and it also risks unequal treatment.
The fair and useful approach is the same for everyone: measure every employee in the same way, with tasks from their own work, and then see who needs what.
What you do as an SME
Map which AI tools are used in your company and for which tasks. Measure for each employee whether they check AI answers, recognise sensitive data and use the tool sensibly. Give a targeted lesson to those who need it, then measure again. That replaces gut feeling with concrete evidence of what your team can do, and of the measures you took for Article 4 of the AI Act.
Source: HLN, "Onderzoek: millennials hebben beste begrip van AI"
Frequently asked questions
So do younger employees understand AI better?
Not necessarily. Gen Z uses AI most often, but according to the study millennials have the best understanding on average. And within every age group, the differences between individuals are large.
Should I mainly train certain age groups?
No. An average per generation says nothing about one employee, and selecting by age risks unequal treatment. Measure everyone the same way and train those who need it.
How do I measure whether someone really understands AI?
With tasks from their own work: checking an AI answer, recognising sensitive data, judging a result before it goes to a customer. What someone does says more than how often they use a tool.