AI Becomes a Core Professional Skill as Majority of US Employees Welcome Employer-Led Upskilling, New eDreams ODIGEO Research Finds

• AI-first credentials are starting to influence job choices in the US, with a third of respondents (33%) saying a company's reputation as an AI-first pioneer would matter when choosing between two similar job offers, rising to 68% among those aged 25 to 34.
• One example of this in travel technology is eDreams ODIGEO, an AI-first business since 2014, where every employee regardless of function is equipped with comprehensive AI tools and training.
• The shift is visible at organizational level too: The International Business Awards introduced a category dedicated to AI-driven culture for the first time in 2026, in which eDreams ODIGEO was recognized for making AI upskilling company-wide rather than confined to technology teams.

BARCELONA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--New research from eDreams ODIGEO (BME: EDR) (OTC: EDDRF), the world's leading travel subscription platform, finds that artificial intelligence is becoming established as a core professional skill among US employees, who are increasingly receptive to their companies taking the lead in developing it.

Asked how they would react if their employer gave them access to AI tools and courses to master them, 61% of employed respondents in the United States said they would be positive, welcoming it either as support for developing their skills or as a useful, if optional, addition to their work.

AI capability is also starting to feature in career decisions. A third of US respondents (33%) said a company's reputation as an AI-first pioneer would be an important or deciding factor when choosing between two similar job offers. The figure rises among younger workers, reaching 68% among those aged 25 to 34.

Together the findings point to AI settling into the US workplace as a general professional competency rather than a specialist one, particularly among younger employees, with workers welcoming the chance to build it alongside their employers.

AI as a core competency in practice

The appetite the research identifies is already materializing in the travel technology sector, where eDreams ODIGEO has operated as an AI-first business since 2014. AI is a core competency for the entire workforce, technical and non-technical alike, and employees are assessed against it as part of the performance cycle, ensuring that every team applies AI to its own work in the most strategic and efficient manner, and that AI literacy is sustained across the organisation.

Supporting this, eDO’s annual training hours have more than doubled, from 48,933 to 99,335, concentrated on AI fundamentals, prompt engineering and the critical thinking needed to validate AI outputs. The approach spans engineering, product, customer experience, marketing, finance, human resources and operations.

In this case, twelve years of AI-first strategy have expanded capacity, workforce and the business alike. Engineering productivity has risen more than 47% year on year, with teams delivering five times more business features.

Corporate AI culture becomes something companies are measured on

The growing weight of AI within organizations is increasingly reflected in how companies are assessed from the outside. The International Business Awards, known as the International Stevies and now in its 23rd year, introduced a category dedicated to AI-driven culture of innovation for the first time in 2026, recognizing organizations that have built AI adoption, training and responsible innovation into how they work. eDreams ODIGEO was recognized in that inaugural category, honoured with a Stevie Award for extending AI upskilling across the whole organization rather than confining it to technology teams.

Dana Dunne, Chief Executive Officer at eDreams ODIGEO, commented: “The research reflects a shift we went through more than a decade ago: AI literacy is becoming a general skill, and people want to build it. Twelve years of working this way has taught us that fluency is not really about the tools, which change every few months, but about judgement, knowing when to use AI, how to direct it and how to check what comes back. That is why our training puts as much weight on critical thinking as on prompting, and why AI is a core competency for every role rather than a technical one. It is also why the capability has translated into significant growth for us as the world’s first travel subscription platform.”