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A TechRadar report says 23% of UK senior leaders may be overstating their knowledge of AI, based on research by Emergn. That finding is a survey-reported possibility—not proof that any particular boss is pretending, and not a measure of how well leaders actually use AI.

What the 23% figure says—and what it does not

TechRadar reported on October 3, 2026, that Emergn research found 23% of UK senior leaders may be bluffing about their AI knowledge. The primary survey report, sample size, field dates and exact question wording were not available in the reporting, so the finding should be read with that limitation in mind. It does not establish that a specific manager is lying or show how the researchers measured “bluffing.”

Emergn CEO Alex Adamopoulos described the pressure behind admitting a knowledge gap: “It is hard to admit you do not understand something when you are supposed to be the person with the answers.” That observation offers context, but the reported figures do not show that anxiety or career pressure caused leaders to overstate their knowledge. TechRadar’s report

Why leaders may feel pressure to keep up

The same Emergn research, as reported by TechRadar, points to concern as well as possible overstatement: 38% of UK senior leaders believed their career prospects could suffer unless they significantly improved their AI skills in the coming year. Separately, 22% reportedly felt anxious or lost sleep because AI was changing their industry quickly, and another 22% felt out of their depth because of AI’s effect on their role.

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Training was not universal in the results: 43% said they had received substantial AI training during the previous 12 months. The report does not define “substantial” in the coverage, and these figures do not establish a causal link between training, anxiety and the 23% result.

Other workplace findings show uneven readiness, not proof of bluffing

A UK government employer survey offers a separate view of workplace AI knowledge. Among employers using or planning to use AI, 43% rated their business’s AI knowledge as intermediate or above, while 56% rated it beginner or novice. In that same employer survey, 36% rated senior leadership’s understanding of AI use in their industry as good, and 34% rated leaders’ ability to identify new AI opportunities as good. The publication date is not stated on the government page.

These are employer assessments of business knowledge and leadership understanding—not a replication of Emergn’s reported question about leaders overstating what they know. The government page also cautions that its general-public survey was a different study, so those results indicate trends or differences rather than direct comparability. UK government: AI activity in UK businesses

Gallup provides organizational context from a different respondent group and geography: in a 2026 survey of 102 CHROs in its Global CHRO Roundtable, 50% were not very or not at all confident in managers’ ability to guide employees’ AI use, while 57% said their organizations were providing AI training for people managers. These are CHRO responses, not UK-specific results or evidence about the Emergn finding. Gallup’s report on managers and AI

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How to judge whether a manager understands AI

A confident-sounding answer is not, by itself, evidence of expertise. In a workplace discussion, look for whether a leader can connect a proposed AI use to the work, explain its limits, and identify who will check the output. Useful questions include:

  • What specific task would AI help with, and what would remain a person’s responsibility?
  • How will the team check accuracy, privacy, security and potential bias before relying on an output?
  • What training or guidance will employees receive, and who can help when the system produces a questionable result?
  • How will the organization decide whether the tool is useful, rather than treating adoption itself as success?

These questions turn a vague claim of AI fluency into a concrete discussion of decisions and safeguards. They are practical ways to assess readiness, not a diagnostic test for whether someone is bluffing.

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