Despite being well-known to many, a recent Pew Research Center survey revealed that few Americans have actually tried ChatGPT, a library of artificial intelligence tools from computing giant OpenAI. The comprehensive survey spanning over 10,000 US adults found that of the 59% who are familiar with the tool, only 14% had used the ChatGPT before.
The results of the survey indicated a stark difference in familiarity between those with varying levels of education and income. Those who possess a college or postgraduate degree were far more likely to know about ChatGPT than those who only had a high school level of education (79% and 71% respectively, compared to the 41% of the latter). Lower-income Americans were also much less informed, with over half not being familiar with the AI tool at all.
Along racial lines, the survey revealed a stark contrast; 78% of Asians were familiar with ChatGPT while just 49% of Black Americans had heard of OpenAI’s offering. White Americans and Hispanics followed with 59% and 47% respectively, though Hispanic respondents were more likely to report they knew a lot about ChatGPT compared to Black and White Americans (20% to 17% and 14% respectively).
ChatGPT usage followed a similar pattern, with adults under 30 the most likely age group to have tried the tool for entertainment (31%) and lower-income folks more likely to use it for work tasks (20%) than middle or upper-income households (11% respectively).
The survey’s findings come at a time when OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, has announced that the company won’t be letting up on their operations in Europe, despite threats arising from AI legislation.
OpenAI is an initiative founded in 2015 as a nonprofit research lab focused on advancing technology for the greater good. The company creates artificial intelligence tools and technologies that are open source, free to the public, and designed to benefit humanity as a whole. They produce tools and resources that have been used to facilitate the development of applications as diverse as healthcare, robotics, and food security. They’re headquarted in California and led by a team of renowned academic and tech experts, alongside CEO Sam Altman.
A highly influential leader in the tech world, Sam Altman is the current president of the non-profit Y Combinator, a venture capital firm that provides seed money, advice, and connections to help launch tech start-ups. He is also a co-chairman of OpenAI, a company devoted to researching and constructing responsible machine learning technologies. Altman sits on the boards of a number of prominent organizations, and is pushing for a shift towards open source, as well as increasing AI safety and literature around responsible technology.
