Cue the “2001: A Space Odyssey” theme: Human lives have always been shaped by new technology. You can trace it (excuse the pun) from railways to the Internet to smartphones. Now, artificial intelligence is the latest tool changing the way we live.
AI adoption has just crossed an important line. Between December and January, Share of adults in the United States Use of AI for personal reasons jumped 5 percentage points to 54%, according to new PYMNTS Intelligence research. In other words, despite all the backlash against the technology, most Americans are now using AI in their daily lives.
People don’t just mess around. Most of these users are casual users or power users, performing eight or more tasks using AI every month. This is a steep adoption curve. Take for example ChatGPT, the most popular consumer AI provider. PYMNTS data shows that 83% of AI users have tried it at least once, and the platform isn’t even available to everyone. general Until the end of 2022.
This transformation did not happen overnight. People may be more aware of their use of AI when they inquire about, say, ChatGPT, but the technology has been a part of Americans’ lives for some time now.
“One thing that surprises a lot of people is that they are already using a lot of AI without realizing it,” he said. Jason I HongPh.D., professor emeritus at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science, in an interview with PYMNTS. “Any type of speech recognition, search query, recommendation, news, map location, or online advertisement uses some form of artificial intelligence. In this sense, artificial intelligence has already been around for many years.”
Advertisement: Scroll to continue
Hong added that the cloud computing infrastructure already built for other popular technologies such as social media and video streaming has allowed AI to spread so quickly.
In this way, AI is very different from some of the past leaps forward in consumer technology, which often took longer to reach that tipping point. Think about home electricity.
Feeling electric
People have always been skeptical of new technology. It took decades for home electricity to catch on, and the naysayers certainly had their reasons. In 1889, there was a real backlash after several people died, due to the new wires.
As one article in A December 1889 issue From Harper’s Weekly (trans Shells and pebbles) to caution:
“As things are now, there is no safety, and danger lurks all around us. It may never reach you, or you may go on for years unharmed, but when the moment comes you will be killed instantly. … A man ringing the doorbell or leaning against a lamppost might be killed at any moment.”
Home electricity didn’t really take off until the 20th century. According to Yale University Energy historyThe share of homes connected to electricity rose from 1 in 7 in 1910 to 7 in 10 by 1930. The shift occurred first in cities, because utility companies could get more money in densely populated areas.
Artificial intelligence works differently. They are not tied to physical infrastructure in the same way, so there is less variation from country to country. Even for people living in rural areas, most of them (51%) use AI, while for city dwellers this number rises to 60%.
Wherever they are, most American households already have what they need to use AI: Wi-Fi. Nearly all U.S. adults — 96%, according to Pew Research Center – Use the Internet.
Speaking of which, where were you when the Internet era dawned?
World Wide Web
The Internet has spread much faster than electricity. ITU data show that in 1991, 1.2% of the US population used the Internet. One decade later, in 2001, this number had risen to nearly half (49%). By then, people were already shopping on eBay and Amazon. They may not be able to ask their questions on ChatGPT yet, but they can still ask their questions on Jeeves.
In the years since, as people left behind the slow, noisy days of dial-up for the convenience of broadband, usage exploded even more. By 2005, more than 2 in 3 American adults were surfing the Web. At the time, Yahoo had approx 100 million users per month. Google was growing by millions every month. This was also the year that SNL’s “Lazy Sunday” was first syndicated on YouTube, elevating digital streaming to new levels of visibility.
However, it took until 2020 to reach the point where 90% of US adults were using the internet.
Of course, the Internet also looks very different now than it did decades ago. With the advent of smartphones, the Internet has become a part of people’s lives not only at home and work, but wherever they go.
Hold the phone
Smartphones are becoming mainstream faster. The first iPhone was released in June 2007, and by January 2013, more than half of American adults said they owned a smartphone, per Bio. Now, 91% do.
The trend is clear: adoption curves continue to steepen. However, the pattern of technological revolutions has not changed much.
“Revolutions in technology…follow a similar social arc. First, they are spectacular and exaggerated. And (later) they become integrated into basic aspects of our lives,” he said. Joshua Copelandassistant professor of information technology at Tulane University and director of cybersecurity at Crescendo, in an interview with PYMNTS. “The electrical revolution has mechanized the volume of power; the Internet has revolutionized the volume of information; and (artificial intelligence) will likely revolutionize the volume of thought.”
For all of our PYMNTS AI coverage, subscribe to our daily newsletter Amnesty International newsletter.
