Americans and AI 2026: Chatbots, Smart Devices and Views on Impact

Half of U.S. adults now report using AI chatbots, a sharp increase from two years ago, even as a majority remain skeptical about the technology's long-term impact on society, a new Pew Research Center survey finds. The survey, conducted Feb. 17-23, 2026, among 5,119 adults, shows 49% of Americans use chatbots, up from 33% in the summer of 2024 and 18% in 2023 [1]. ChatGPT remains the dominant platform, with 44% of adults reporting use, more than double the share recorded in 2023 [1]. Google's Gemini, which was rebranded from Bard in February 2024 and is powered by a family of large language models capable of processing text, code, images, audio, and video, is used by 24% of adults [1][2]. Microsoft's Copilot follows at 17%, Meta AI at 14%, and Grok, Claude, and Character.ai each register in the single digits [1]. About a quarter of adults say they use chatbots daily, including 4% who report using them almost constantly [1]. Searching for information is the most common activity, cited by 42% of users, while 38% of employed adults use the tools for work tasks [1]. Smaller shares turn to chatbots for entertainment, image or video creation, medical advice, or news [1]. Despite rising adoption, public sentiment tilts negative. Four-in-ten adults predict AI will have a negative impact on society over the next 20 years, compared with 16% who expect a positive effect [1]. On a personal level, 31% foresee a negative impact and 23% a positive one [1]. Younger adults, who use chatbots at higher rates, are among the most skeptical: 48% of those ages 18-29 say AI will harm society, versus 37% of those 50 and older [1]. The unease extends to privacy and regulation. Roughly seven-in-ten Americans believe AI will make their personal information less secure, while just 3% think it will become more secure [1]. About two-thirds say AI is advancing too quickly, and majorities express low confidence in both government oversight and corporate responsibility [1]. AI is also embedded in household devices. About a third of adults own a smart speaker such as an Amazon Echo, a product line Amazon began developing as early as 2010 and released widely in 2015 [1][6]. Smaller shares report having AI-enabled doorbells (18%), robot vacuums (13%), or smart thermostats (11%) [1]. Meanwhile, 60% of adults say they read AI-generated search summaries, a feature that has altered how information is consumed online [1]. The field of human-AI interaction continues to study how people engage with these systems and the psychological factors shaping their experiences [4]. As AI agents — systems that can pursue goals and use tools with varying autonomy — become more capable, the tension between rapid adoption and broad public wariness is likely to persist [3].