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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Most ChatGPT use is non-work, targeted on writing duties.
- Claude is used extra for automation, particularly coding.
- AI adoption is uneven, with wealthier areas benefiting first.
Two of the largest AI corporations have revealed how folks truly use their fashions.
Additionally: The best AI chatbots of 2025: ChatGPT, Copilot, and notable alternatives
OpenAI launched a analysis paper analyzing thousands and thousands of ChatGPT conversations, whereas Anthropic revealed its third Financial Index report on Claude utilization. Each have loads of charts and stats, but additionally a couple of attention-grabbing particulars about who’s utilizing AI and why. Collectively, they supply an enchanting take a look at how AI is creeping into our work, college, and on a regular basis life.
(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET’s mum or dad firm, filed an April 2025 lawsuit in opposition to OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in coaching and working its AI programs.)
Most ChatGPT chats are for asking about non-work stuff
OpenAI’s new examine, How People Use ChatGPT, analyzed a random pattern of conversations from Could 2024 to June 2025. The primary shock: Non-work use has overtaken work use. In June 2024, about 47% of ChatGPT messages had been work-related, however by June 2025, that dropped to simply 27% — at the same time as day by day message quantity grew from roughly 451 million to 2.6 billion over the identical interval.
The highest three classes of use now? Practical guidance (which incorporates tutoring, instructing, and how-tos), seeking information (about folks, present occasions, merchandise, recipes, and many others.), and writing (emails, paperwork, and different communications). These collectively account for “almost 80% of all conversations,” based on OpenAI’s analysis. Coding is simply 4.2% of utilization.
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So, whereas the world (and your boss) could have imagined most individuals utilizing ChatGPT to fly through their tedious work tasks or for computer programming, the bulk are literally turning to it for assist, recommendation, studying, and writing.
OpenAI’s researchers grouped person interactions into three buckets: Asking (searching for info or steering), Doing (producing outputs or finishing duties), and Expressing (sharing opinions or emotions). They estimate that about 49% of messages are Asking, 40% are Doing, and 11% are Expressing. As of July 2025, 56% of work-related messages had been within the Doing class.
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In actual fact, when ChatGPT is used at work, over 40% of that use is for writing — and greater than two-thirds of that’s enhancing textual content folks wrote themselves. So when folks flip to ChatGPT on the job, it is extra for proofreading than for absolutely producing textual content from scratch.
Most Claude chats are automation directives (for coding)
Anthropic’s Economic Index seems at how Claude is utilized by each customers and corporations. The report divides duties into two classes: Automation (the place Claude completes work with little enter — both directive, with minimal interplay, or suggestions loops, the place customers relay outcomes), and Augmentation (the place people and AI work collectively via studying, iteration, and validation).
The report analyzed randomly sampled transcripts and located that directive conversations — the place a person asks Claude to finish a activity with minimal interplay — rose sharply from 27% (in December 2024 to January 2025) to 39% (February to March 2025).
Additionally: The work tasks people use Claude AI for most, according to Anthropic
Since final December, folks appear to be delegating whole duties to Claude with little back-and-forth — telling it to do one thing and trusting the output. For the primary time, Anthropic reports “automation (49.1%) has turn out to be extra frequent than augmentation (47%).” It says this could possibly be as a consequence of “AI profitable customers’ confidence, and changing into more and more accountable for finishing refined work.”
In enterprise settings, particularly, automation is frequent. Anthropic says 77% of its API buyer conversations have “automation patterns,” with the “overwhelming majority” being directive. So, whereas about half of on a regular basis customers use Claude.ai to finish work with minimal interplay, companies are counting on Claude much more to place duties on autopilot — particularly coding.
Anthropic mentioned about 44% of API site visitors is expounded to coding (pc and mathematical duties), in comparison with 36% on Claude.ai. It mentioned Claude.ai utilization is greater for academic and writing duties.
Who’s utilizing AI and the place?
OpenAI’s researchers and Anthropic take a look at development and AI adoption of their experiences.
ChatGPT utilization is booming worldwide, with 700 million weekly customers as of July 2025. Over the previous yr, development has been comparatively sooner in low- and middle-income nations, the report notes. Whereas about 80% of early ChatGPT customers had been males, that share has since dropped to 48% (as of June 2025), with extra lively customers now having “sometimes female” first names.
The person base additionally skews younger, with almost half of all messages from adults coming from folks underneath the age of 26. Researchers additionally mentioned educated customers and extremely paid professionals are “considerably extra” doubtless to make use of ChatGPT for work.
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As for Claude utilization, Anthropic mentioned the US accounts for the best share (21.6%). Nonetheless, Israel leads in terms of “world per capita Claude utilization.” The nation has an “AI Utilization Index” (AUI) rating of seven, which suggests folks in Israel use Claude about seven instances extra usually than you’d anticipate based mostly on the scale of the nation’s working-age inhabitants.
Within the US, California is the main state when it comes to utilization, making up 25.3% of all Claude exercise, largely for IT-related tasks. However if you alter for inhabitants dimension, the per-capita-usage chief turns into Washington, DC, with an AUI rating of three.82. Folks there apparently use Claude almost 4 instances extra usually than their share of the US working-age inhabitants would counsel.
And simply why are DC of us utilizing Claude a lot? “Document editing, info provision, and job purposes,” Anthropic says.
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Elevating issues about inequality, Anthropic warned that uneven AI adoption might mirror the historical past of electrical energy and the web, the place rich nations pulled forward of creating ones. The report famous a “1% greater GDP per capita was related to a 0.7% greater Anthropic AI Utilization Index,” suggesting richer areas could already be capturing many of the early productiveness features.
“Folks in higher-income nations are extra doubtless to make use of Claude, extra more likely to search collaboration moderately than automation, and extra more likely to pursue a breadth of makes use of past coding,” Anthropic says. Nations with decrease AI adoption per capita focus overwhelmingly on coding duties, too — with over half of all utilization in India, in comparison with roughly a 3rd globally.
Frequent themes
Each OpenAI’s and Anthropic’s experiences take a look at how folks work together with AI: asking versus doing.
For instance, Anthropic targeted on whether or not Claude was used for automation or augmentation and located that customers choose automation and giving directives with little enter, moderately than collaborating with the mannequin. OpenAI, in the meantime, broke person interactions into asking, doing, or expressing classes, and located that customers have a tendency to make use of it for asking.
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Each research additionally appeared on the sorts of duties folks use AI for, similar to writing or coding.
Whereas ChatGPT and Claude are nonetheless used for writing, ChatGPT customers usually ask the AI to edit non-work-related textual content they wrote themselves. Claude, in the meantime, is used extra for automation, particularly coding, with companies directing it to finish duties.
Add all of it up, and also you get an attention-grabbing snapshot of AI thus far and the way it differs between rivals.
