The increasingly human-like way people are engaging with language models
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March 12, 2025
Half of Americans now use artificial intelligence (AI) large language models like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Copilot, according to a national survey conducted in January 2025 by Elon University’s Imagining the Digital Future Center. Since the launch of ChatGPT on Nov. 30, 2022, the spread of LLM usage in this country represents one of the fastest, if not the fastest, adoption rates of a major technology in history.
The growth and spread of these AI systems in the U.S. population are especially striking for their diversity. Younger, well-educated, relatively wealthy, and employed adults are somewhat more likely than others to be using LLMs now. Yet, it is also the case that half of those living in households earning less than $50,000 (53%) use the tools. Moreover, Hispanic adults (66%) and Black adults (57%) are more likely than White adults (47%) to be LLM users.
Key usage patterns
What LLMs people use: ChatGPT stands out as the most commonly used LLM. Fully 72% of LLM users say they have used ChatGPT, while 50% have used Google’s Gemini, 39% have used Microsoft’s Copilot, 20% have used Meta’s LLaMa, 12% have used xAI’s Grok and 9% have used Anthropic’s Claude and 9% say they have used other LLMs.
How they use LLMs: 34% of LLM users say they do so least once a day, including 10% who say they use the tools “almost constantly.” Another 18% say they use LLMs several times a week.
Why they use LLMs: Personal uses, rather than work-related uses, are the main activity. Half (51%) say the main purpose for their LLM use is personal, informal learning on their own. Some 24% say for work purposes; 11% say for school purposes. Fully two-thirds (68%) have ever used LLMs for informal learning on their own; 60% have ever used them to amuse or entertain themselves and 52% have ever used them for work activities. Among those who work, 46% say their main purpose is personal, compared with 32% who say the main purpose is work.
Special uses of LLMs: The survey covered a host of particular uses of LLMs and found that: Two-thirds use them like search engines; about half use them for brainstorming ideas and summarizing documents; a third use them to create presentations and plan things like trips; a quarter use them for planning social gatherings and writing computer code. And 23% have used LLMs to look up what the models say about people they know, while 18% have looked up what a model says about themselves.
Human-like interactions and relationships with LLMs
A notable share of LLM users have had human-like social interactions with these tools. Indeed, 38% of users believe it is very or somewhat likely that in the next decade LLMs will form deep relationships with humans. Right now, LLM users say this:
- 65% have had spoken conversations with back-and-forth interactions with LLMs, including 34% who regularly do this at least several times a week.
- 40% say the LLM they use most acts like it understands them at least some of the time.
- 25% say the LLM they mostly use cheers them up.
- 22% say their primary LLM seems to express empathy.
- 9% of LLM users said the main purpose they use LLMs is for social kinds of encounters like casual conversation and companionship.
- 7% say the main model they use seems to respond in a jealous way.
Attributes of LLMs
Half of LLM users (49%) think the models they use are smarter than they are, including 26% who think their LLMs are “a lot smarter.” Another 18% think LLMs are as smart as they are. Here are some of the other attributes they see:
- Confident: 57% say the main LLM they use seems to act in a confident way.
- Reasoning: 39% say the main LLM they use shows the capacity to think and reason at least some of the time.
- Sense of humor: 32% say their main LLM seems to have a sense of humor.
- Morals: 25% say their main model acts like it makes moral judgments about right and wrong at least sometimes.
- Sarcasm: 17% say their prime LLM seems to respond sarcastically.
- Sad: 11% say the main model they use seems to express sadness, while 24% say that model also expresses hope.
Performance and impact
Overall performance: Three-quarters of LLM users are “very” or “somewhat” satisfied with the LLMs performance, including 25% who are very satisfied.
- Productivity: 54% say their use of LLMs has improved their productivity a lot or somewhat.
- Learning: 50% say their use of LLMs has improved their ability to learn new skills and concepts a lot or somewhat.
- Creativity: 42% say their use of LLMs has improved their creativity a lot or somewhat.
- Darker impacts: People have felt lazy when they use LLMs (50%); felt they were cheating (35%); felt frustrated or confused (35%); felt they were becoming too dependent on LLMs for giving them answers rather than thinking through things themselves (33%), made a significant mistake or bad decision by relying on information generated by LLMs (23%); compromised their privacy (21%); felt manipulated by the LLM (21%).
Future expectations about the impact of LLMs on people’s daily lives
These LLM users render mixed judgments about how these models will evolve and affect the quality of people’s daily lives in the future: 28% believe the effect will be more positive than negative; 20% think it will be more negative than positive; 32% think there will be an equal mixture of positive and negative impacts and 6% think there will not be much of an impact. Asked about a variety of outcomes in the next decade, people are mostly positive about these:
- 62% think it is very or somewhat likely that the spread of LLMs will lead to major new medical and scientific breakthroughs.
- 55% say it is likely LLMs will be controlled by human beings and responsive to human needs.
LLM users are more negative about these future outcomes:
- 63% think it is very or somewhat likely that the spread of LLMs will cause social isolation by replacing a lot of human-to-human communication.
- 59% think it is likely that the models will cause a significant loss of jobs, even after counting the new jobs that are created.
- 53% say LLMs will likely surpass human intelligence in most important ways.
- 45% think the models will contribute to serious social upheaval.
- 40% believe LLMs will likely develop their own identity and goals.
These LLM users also predict some general impacts:
- 43% think the spread of LLMs in the next decade will considerably change the way they spend their leisure time.
- 40% think the models will dramatically change the kind of work they do.
- 38% think LLMs will form deep relationships with people.
These are among the key findings of a national survey conducted by the Imagining the Digital Future Center representing the full range of LLM users in the U.S. adult population. It is among the first, if not the first, nationally representative probability sample of all adult LLM users on how they use and think about the models and their role in their lives. The survey was conducted among 500 language model users drawn from the national SSRS Opinion Panel between Jan. 21-23, 2025, and has a margin of error of +/- 5.1 percentage points.