Prompting Curiosity
Prompting Curiosity
Ep. 47: How Are People Using AI in 2026? Here's What the Data Says
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In this episode, I dig into five data sources to break down how people are actually using AI in 2026. The numbers cover everything from adoption rates and top use cases to the personal versus work, along with growing concerns about AI-enabled cognitive laziness. Perhaps most interesting, the data tells a very different story than the productivity narrative dominating the headlines, and speaks to the ultimate reason that I personally believe AI is here to stay.

Main Topics Covered

  • The five data sources driving this episode
  • Who's using AI and the age divide
  • The three behavior types: Asking, Doing, and Expressing
  • Top 10 use cases from the HBR study
  • AI as a search replacement
  • Personal vs. work usage split
  • AI usage at work and shadow usage
  • The concerns: thinkslop and Pew data
  • The takeaway on personal usage and emotional attachment
  • How I used AI this week: Candidate research for voting in the CA primaries

Links & Resources for This Episode