Americans are aware of Generative AI tools but most use them infrequently
Generative AI usage data from the 2023 Generative AI & American Society Survey
This article is part of my ongoing coverage of the 2023 Generative AI & American Society Survey, a nationally representative survey of Americans conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago. Known for producing some of the most scientifically rigorous surveys in the United States, NORC was my chosen partner for this project, which I both wrote and funded. For more details on the survey, you can check out the project FAQ.
American interest in Generative AI tools has soared, but not everyone uses them regularly
Interest in Generative AI has soared in 2023 as tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney were thrust into the public consciousness. While Google and Microsoft publicly contended to release competing AI language tools in Bard and Bing Chat, respectively, ChatGPT has led the charge (as evidence, The New York Times now has a technology subsection specifically dedicated to ChatGPT). There is a long-tail of lesser-known AI language tools like search engines You.com and Perplexity, coding plugin GitHub Co-pilot, and a bevy of new tools claiming to leverage AI for writing help. Among AI text-to-image tools Midjourney is the clear winner in public interest thus far, beating out other common tools like Adobe Firefly and DALL-E 2 from OpenAI. (However, OpenAI just announced DALL-E 3, which will be integrated into ChatGPT).
While there is some information on the use of specific Generative AI tools — ChatGPT, for instance, attracts approximately 18 million unique monthly visitors in the United States according to SimilarWeb1 — comprehensive data on self-reported usage across all types of AI language and text-to-image tools has been unavailable until now.
The Generative AI & American Society Survey results indicate that one in five American adults use AI language models at least monthly, while AI text-to-image tools see only half as much use, at 10%. This amounts to about 52 million monthly active users of AI language tools and 26 million monthly active users of AI text-to-language tools.2 Half of American adults have not yet interacted with these Generative AI tools despite being aware of them.
In spite of their significant media coverage, awareness of these technologies is not universal. One-fifth of Americans haven't heard of AI language models, and a full one-third are unfamiliar with AI text-to-image tools.
This is likely our last look at Generative AI while standalone technologies are the primary mode of usage, before they proliferate fully into consumer software products. Soon consumers may begin to leverage Generative AI tools without even being fully aware they’re doing so. Just last week Microsoft announced that it would expand its Bing Chat co-pilot into a unified Generative AI experience crossing its widely used suite of M365 tools like Word and Excel as well as the Windows operating system. Google Duet — a rebranding of its Generative AI offering — is already available for customers of its paid Google Workspace suite, which includes Gmail, a market leading email client. Some features from Adobe Firefly’s Generative AI image platform have already been incorporated into Adobe Photoshop, with more likely on the way.
Lower income Americans are more likely to have not heard of AI language tools
While the familiarity with AI text-to-image tools is consistent across income brackets, ranging between 30% to 35%, the same cannot be said for AI language tools. Lower-income Americans — those earning less than $30,000 annually — are about twice as likely to have never heard of language-based AI tools like ChatGPT when compared to those with incomes of $100,000 or more.
This same pattern holds true across educational attainment; 32% of those that didn’t finish high school have never heard of Generative AI tools compared to just 13% for those with a bachelors degree or higher.
Perhaps surprisingly given the figures above, those earning less than $30,000 are the most likely to use AI language models everyday at 8%, compared to 3% for those making more than $100,000. (However, note that while this difference is statistically significant, the sample size for this detailed demographic breakdown is quite small, and therefore, may be less accurate).
White Americans use AI language tools less frequently
In terms of regular use of AI language tools, White Americans trail other racial and ethnic groups. While 13% of White Americans use these tools at least once a month, the rates are 29% for Black Americans, 24% for Hispanics, and 36% for Asians and other ethnicities. Moreover, White Americans are the group most likely to be aware of but not use these tools, with 55% falling into this category.
Older Americans are also less likely to have heard of new Generative AI technologies. Among those aged 60 and over, 27% have never heard of AI language tools, while a larger 41% remain unaware of AI text-to-image tools. A mere 14% haven't heard of AI language tools, although a somewhat larger percentage — 26% — haven't heard of AI text-to-image tools. Those aged 18 to 29 have similar rates of knowledge.
How were these figures determined?
Results from the 2023 Generative AI & American Society Survey came from the National Opinion Research Center’s probability-based AmeriSpeak panel of adults ages 18 and over. The sample size was 1,147 and responses were weighted to ensure national representation. The exact questions posed to respondents about both AI language tools and AI text-to-image tools are detailed below. For more information, please refer to the FAQ page.
AI language tools question
Think about the past three months. In an average month, how often have you used language-based AI systems? These are systems that can chat like a human and perform other tasks such as writing computer code. Examples include ChatGPT by OpenAI, Bard from Google, and Bing Chat from Microsoft.
Every day
Several times a week
Once a week
1-3 times a month
I have tried them but did not continue using them.
I'm aware of them, but I have not used them.
I've never heard of them.
AI text-to-image tools question
Think about the past three months. In an average month, how often have you used AI tools that make images from a text description entered by a human? Examples include Midjourney, Adobe Firefly, and DALL-E 2 by OpenAI.
Every day
Several times a week
Once a week
1-3 times a month
I have tried them but did not continue using them.
I'm aware of them, but I have not used them.
I've never heard of them.
If you have additional questions, comments, or suggestions please do leave a comment below or email me at james@96layers.ai. To help advance the understanding of public attitudes about Generative AI I’m making all raw data behind the 2023 Generative AI & American Society Survey available free of charge. Please email me if you’re interested.
Using my SimilarWeb account I searched for Monthly Unique Visitors to chat.openai.com, the URL used to interact with ChatGPT. This resulted in a figure of 196 million with 9.14% of these visits originating in the United States.
According to the U.S. Census there are 333,287,557 Americans, 78.3% of which are 18 or over, resulting in a total of about 261 million. Multiplying by 20% results in a figure of around 52 million.