Half of Americans now use AI chatbots, and about half remain more concerned than excited about AI

Forty-nine percent of U.S. adults said they use an AI chatbot in a Pew Research Center survey from February 2026, up from 33% who said they had used one in August 2024. Between August 2024 and June 2026, the share who said they feel more concerned than excited about AI in daily life went from 51% to 52%.

Concern jumped once and then held

The gray line in the chart shows that concern rose in a single step. It was 37% in November 2021 and 38% in December 2022, then 52% by August 2023, eight months after ChatGPT's release, and it has stayed between 50% and 52% since. The share more excited than concerned has drifted down, from 18% in 2021 to 9% this June.

Young adults are the group still moving

Among adults 18 to 29, the share more concerned than excited rose from 39% in 2024 to 47% in 2025 and 55% this year, close to the 59% among those 65 and older. Young adults are also the most likely to use the tools, with 61% using ChatGPT compared with 19% of those 65 and older.

How often people use them

About 24% of adults now use a chatbot at least once a day, according to Pew's June report. OpenAI said at its developer conference on Sept. 29 that it has 1.2 billion weekly users, but that is the company's own unaudited figure, and its recap described the users as "collective," which may cover products beyond ChatGPT.

Our take

The numbers suggest that many Americans are using these tools while still worrying about them, and that wider use hasn't eased the worry. That is a reading of two separate trends and doesn't come from a question that asked the same people about both.

What's next

Pew asks the concern question about once a year, and the next reading will show whether the rise among young adults spreads to older groups.

How we counted: Pew Research Center American Trends Panel surveys, weighted to U.S. adults. The usage and concern questions come from different surveys fielded at different times of year. The 2024 usage question asked whether people had "ever used" a chatbot and went only to those who had heard of them; the 2026 version asked all adults whether they "ever use" one.