While close to six in 10 Americans are familiar with ChatGPT, just 14% have actually tried it, according to a Pew Research Center survey.
Pew surveyed just over 10,000 US adults in mid-March and found that highly educated and affluent respondents are much more likely than lower-income Americans whose highest level of education is a high-school degree to know at least “a little” about ChatGPT.
As the research found, just 41% of high school graduates are familiar with the OpenAI tool. Meanwhile, 79% of those with a postgraduate degree, and 71% of respondents who hold a bachelor's degree, have heard about ChatGPT.
Over half (55%) of lower-income Americans say they know nothing about the AI tool, which compares to just 24% of upper-income folks who have never heard of ChatGPT. Upper-income Americans were in fact more likely to know a lot about ChatGPT (28%) than know nothing at all.
The survey also revealed discrepancies among races, with Asians far more likely than any other racial group to have familiarity with ChatGPT; 78% know at least a little. White American respondents are the second most likely racial group to profess they know about ChatGPT, with 59% knowing either a lot or a little about the AI chatbot.
Meanwhile, more Black Americans (51%) say they know nothing at all about ChatGPT than at least a little (49%). While 47% of Hispanics know nothing at all, 20% know a lot, which is higher than both Black Americans (14%) and White Americans (17%).
The survey also revealed a gender and age imbalance, with men more likely than women to have heard at least a little about ChatGPT, while adults over 30 are less likely than adults under 30 to have heard of it.
The survey also looked at how people use ChatGPT. It found that adults under 30 are far more likely than adults 65 and older to have used ChatGPT for entertainment (31% to 4%), and that despite being less familiar with it, lower-income households that are aware of ChatGPT are more likely to use it.
As the survey shows, 20% of those from lower-income households are likely to use ChatGPT for work tasks, in contrast to 11% from middle and upper-income households, respectively.
The revealing survey comes as OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman said OpenAI would not cease operations in Europe; a clear reversal of a previous threat to leave the region because of proposed AI legislation.
