GoKawiilLast year around this time The New York Times Magazine ran an A.I. issue with an introduction titled “Everyone Is Using A.I. for Everything. Is That Bad?” It’s an edited transcript from the Hard Fork podcast, which I think assumes two things are true that are turning out to be false.
Once you’ve tried AI, you use it “for everything.” No, in fact most people who’ve tried it are just occasional AI users. AI has gotten so good that despite any misgivings, “everyone is using A.I.” No, in fact large chunks of the population aren’t using AI at all.
(It isn’t really strictly defined in the article, but I’m taking AI to mean generative AI accessible via a chat interface.)
“ Everyone is using AI for everything ” is actually “ Some people are using AI for some things ”
Take Gen Z, where AI awareness is the highest: in the last year, even though AI has supposedly gotten a lot better, Gen Z AI adoption has all but stalled, with a meaningful percentage of the Gen Z population still using AI rarely, if at all.
Here’s Gallup’s year-over-year (2025/2026) breakdown:
79/81% use AI at least rarely
41/42% are anxious about AI
32/31% use AI only monthly/every few months
22/31% are angry about AI
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