In my world, talk of AI is everywhere. I doubt most have a different opinion because nearly any news program has a story every other day or so commenting on AI capabilities, dangers, and the wealth and power being accumulated by developers. We all have experienced the history, beginning with ChatGPT in Nov. 2022, of the large language models.
I tried to find some specifics about the popularity of AI and this is challenging. There were quickly multiple companies involved and you can use free versions of AI programs with just a browser making an accurate of “users” difficult. We do know that a million users signed up for ChatGPT 3 within three months.
So, where are we at a year and a half later? Again, you and I may use an AI large language model on a daily or at least weekly basis, but how much use is actually going on “out there”?
Studies have started to appear attempting to determine the frequency of frequent use. Frequent use can be very different from “yeah, I tried that” use. My interpretation is that folks in many countries have heard of AI and quite a few have given at least one service a try, but most now appear puzzled by what should come next. One of these studies with the broadest approach, approached respondents in six countries – Argentina, Denmark, France, Japan, and the US. Among those surveyed, awareness was high, but frequent actual use was low. On a daily basis, frequent users ranged from 7% in the U.S. to 1% in Japan. 56% of 18-24 year olds had tried an AI service and 16% of those over 55.
My personal interest concerns AI in schools so I tried to locate studies that attempted to establish typical patterns of use by secondary students. Here is a 2024 study from Commonsense Media on this topic available to all online. A very short summary concluded that will half of 14-22-year-olds have used an AI service, but only 4% report being daily users. Beyond these basic statistics, I found it startling that minority youth (Blacks and Latinx) reported a higher frequency of use – 20% – 10% claimed to be weekly users. I cross-checked this result several times to make certain I understood it correctly. When asked to categorize their use, young people reported searching for information, generating ideas, and school work in that order. Another large category of use was generating pictures. The authors reported some concern when finding that searching for information was the most frequent category of use.
Participants were asked about concerns that limited their use of AI and potential accusations of cheating were high among these young people.
I admit I need to review this study more carefully because it is not clear to me if the participants were including any classroom use in contrast to what I would call personal use.
The “what can I do with this” question
Mollick and the 10-hour investment. I have read several efforts by Ethan Mollick (NYTimes, Kindle book) and find his perspective useful. He claims using AI is different from learning other technology applications in that there are not exact instructions you can follow to find productive uses. Instead, he proposes that you invest 10 hours and try the tool you select to accomplish various tasks that you face daily. If you write a lot of emails, chat with the AI tool about what you want to say and see what it generates. Request modifications to improve what is generated to suit your needs. Ask it to create an image you might have a way to use. Ask it to generate ideas for a task you want to accomplish. Some may tell you that AI is not a person and this is obviously the case, but forget this for a while and treat the AI service like an intern working with you. Converse in a natural way and give a clear description of what your tasks require. Ask the AI service to take on a persona and then explain your task. If you are trying to create something for a classroom situation, ask the service to act as an experienced teacher of XXX preparing for a lesson on YYY. Expect problems, but if you involve the tool in areas you understand, you should be able to identify what is incorrect and request improvements.
I watched the recent Apple announcement regarding the company’s soon to be released AI capabilities. Thinking about Apple’s approach, I could not help proposing that experiences with Apple products in the ways Apple plans could be a great gateway to finding personal practical applications of AI (Apple wants you to think of their approach as Apple Intelligence). Apple intends rolling out a two-tiered model – the AI capabilities available in a self-contained way on Apple devices and AI capabilities available off device. The device-located AI capabilities are designed to accomplish common tasks. Think of the on-device capabilities as similar to what Mollick proposes – ways to accomplish daily tasks (e.g., summarization, image creation, text evaluation and improvement, finding something I know I read recently). AI capabilities are available within most Apple products and also within other services. I could not help wondering how Grammarly will survive with AI tools available to Apple users who own recent Apple equipment.
Obviously, I have yet to try the new Apple Intelligence tools and I doubt I will close out my AI subscriptions, but I do think Apple tools as a transition will increase day-to-day usage.
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