A survey carried out by management consultancy McKinsey suggests around 70 percent of white-collar employees in Hong Kong use artificial intelligence tools to help them with their work.

The survey last December involved around 4,500 professionals and tertiary students.

Among workers who used AI, close to 90 percent reported improvements in productivity, and more than 90 percent said they engaged with AI tools daily.

The survey also found that while there was a high level of AI usage among directors, managers and junior staff, less than 15 percent of founders or executives used AI.

Jackey Yu, partner at McKinsey, on Wednesday said this hinders the integration of AI in companies.

"The senior management needs to be onboard, not only be onboard but also needs to act as a role model," Yu said.

"To show the entire organisation this is something with commitment, with determination, that the company will need to drive the transformation with AI."

Managing partner at McKinsey Arthur Shek added that companies should have a clear goal as to what they want to achieve with AI, and should invest more in teaching their employees AI skills.

Meanwhile, the survey showed that more than 70 percent of tertiary students would prefer to pursue an "AI-enabled" career and over 90 percent were actively developing relevant skills.

Yu said companies expect students to be proficient in AI, while students also expect companies to be AI-ready.

"Embrace AI, no-brainer... I would encourage students in the future generation to really think more about how to partner with AI to do more and better," Yu said.