July 29, 2025
Sixty percent of adults report ever using artificial intelligence (AI) to search for information, by far the most common use of the eight asked about in the survey.
Other uses of AI include idea generation (40%), using it for work (37%), writing emails (34%), creating or editing images (33%), entertainment (30%), shopping (26%), and companionship (16%).
Young adults are adopting artificial intelligence at much higher rates than older age groups. Among those aged 18–29, AI use is widespread—at least half report ever using it for brainstorming or searching for information. Just about half of young adults use AI for work tasks, to help write email, generate images, or for entertainment. While relatively few report using AI for companionship, younger adults are doing so more often than the overall adult population.
Among adults who report using AI, those under 30 tend to use it more. Twenty-eight percent say they use AI to search for information at least several times a day, and another 11% report doing so about once a day. Additionally, 22% use AI to generate ideas at least several times a day, and 13% do so about once a day.
The nationwide poll was conducted July 10-14, 2025 using the AmeriSpeak® Panel, the probability-based panel of NORC at the University of Chicago. Online and telephone interviews using landlines and cell phones were conducted with 1,437 adults. The overall margin of sampling error is +/- 3.6 percentage points. Respondents age 18-29 were sampled at a higher rate than their proportion of the population for reasons of analysis. The overall margin of sampling error for the 386 interviews completed with respondents age 18-29 is +/- 6.6 percentage points.
- Suggested Citation: AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. “Young Adults Leading the Way in AI Adoption” (July 2025). https://apnorc.org/projects/young-adults-leading-the-way-in-ai-adoption/
