this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2026
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[–] Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world 36 points 21 hours ago (3 children)

I'd like to see the data for that 49% of adults. It feels high and I wouldn't put it past some companies to report mandatory AI bots as increased use by customers. I know Amazon requires it to do returns now, and I've had more than one site bring up the chat bot if you wanted access to content.

[–] 9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

Number seems low to me....

People are using AI all the time without knowing it. Almost everyone is using the AI summary feature on every google search (i'm sure those summaries arent generated every time, so does it count as AI use if it's a re-used result?). There's probably a bunch of AI bullshit enabled on your phone you dont know about.

My guess would be closer to 90%... only a small minority of people are truly tech savvy enough to know what's going on under the hood, and truly dedicated 100% anti-AI to avoid using those sites/features.

[–] acosmichippo@lemmy.world 27 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

it's here

it's "% of U.S. adults who say they ever use AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot". They didn't ask about regular use, it's the total number of people who have ever used a chatbot in any capacity. So with that framing 49% doesn't surprise me. Of course the percentage of people who have ever used a chatbot is going to go up over time.

[–] bigbangdangler@reddthat.com 13 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

Of course the percentage of people who have ever used a chatbot is going to go up over time.

Yes, and crucially, it never goes down.

It's like asking: "do you use a motor vehicle?" And then counting everyone who has ever been in a car, a truck, a bus, or potentially even a train as a yes. It plainly conflates active users with exploratory or incidental users.

The only reason to do such things is to inflate numbers because being honest about them makes it look bad.

[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 5 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

Yup. I used Gemini like a year before it took off back when Google first sent out testing invites, because I wanted to see what it could do. That's very different from active use, but this survey would count me as a regular user.

Although since Google shows me an AI summary whenever I search now, maybe I count as an active one anyways... along with everyone else who uses Google.

[–] LemmyEntertainYou@piefed.social 3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Unfortunately A LOT of less tech-savvy people absolutely love AI chatbots. All of my girlfriend's family regularly ask ChatGPT random shit multiple times a day. Many of my friends have taken to using ChatGPT for every single online enquiry. It's a worrying world.

[–] walden@wetshav.ing 1 points 3 hours ago

It sort of makes sense, though. Google Search has been a hot pile of garbage for years. Researching something simple used to be quick and easy, but now you have to sift through endless SEO trash websites to find half an answer (or use a better search engine).

People go for the path of least resistance.