Up to 30% of population don’t know about ChatGPT, study finds

While many tech-savvy people use generative AI on a daily basis, a significant part of the population hasn’t even heard of ChatGPT or other popular generative AI tools.

If you work in a job that is at least slightly related to tech, chances are that you’re using generative AI tools quite often. For those living in the tech bubble, it may seem obvious that other people should be familiar with tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Copilot.

However, the latest study by the Reuters Institute and the University of Oxford shows that 20-30% percent of respondents in six surveyed countries haven’t heard of ChatGPT or other popular AI tools.

The survey, which included around 12,000 respondents from Argentina, Denmark, France, Japan, the UK, and the USA, also reveals that most people don’t frequently use generative AI tools on a daily basis.

While OpenAI’s ChatGPT is by far the most popular AI tool, with 50% of respondents reporting they have heard of it, the study finds that only 1% of Japanese people use it on a daily basis, 2% in France and the UK, and 7% in the USA.

Other most popular generative AI tools are Google’s Gemini and Microsoft’s Copilot.

As expected, the younger generation is using generative AI more often, with 56% of 18 to 24-year-olds saying they have used ChatGPT at least once. Meanwhile, only 16% of 55-year-old or older respondents say that they have used it at least once.

According to the survey, people use generative AI for two main purposes. 28% use it for generating various types of media, including audio, code, images, and video, whereas 24% of the surveyed use genAI for getting information.

When asked about the impact of generative AI on different sectors, 72% of respondents said that AI will have a large impact on search and social media companies, while 66% think that it will have a large impact on the news media and also science.

However, people’s expectations determining if AI will make society better or worse are more pessimistic on average. There’s considerable pessimism in areas such as cost of living, equality, and job security, the study found.