Key Insights for Educators from the NBER Working Paper 34255 (Sept 2025)
Weekly active users by July 2025, representing ~10% of the global adult population.
Messages sent *per day*. This platform is a primary channel for information and creation.
Personal learning, creative ideation, practical advice, and curiosity.
Writing emails, coding, summarizing documents, and professional tasks.
Educator's Insight:
The growth in non-work usage is outpacing work-related usage. Students are integrating AI into their daily lives for learning and problem-solving far beyond the classroom.
How-to advice, creative ideation, health & fitness tips, and personalized plans.
10.2%
...of ALL messages are for Tutoring or Teaching. It's a massive, informal education tool.
Producing emails, documents, and communications. The #1 use case at work (40%).
2/3rds
...of writing tasks involve modifying user text (editing, summarizing, translating), not just creating from scratch.
Searching for facts about people, events, products, and recipes. A direct substitute for web search.
Fastest Growing Category
Usage for seeking information grew from 14% to 24% in just one year.
Using the AI as an advisor. Users seek information and guidance to make better decisions. This is the dominant use for knowledge work.
Growing faster & rated higher quality.
Using the AI as a producer. Users request a specific output to be created, like an email, code, or a summary.
The primary use at work is Writing.
Educator's Insight:
Are we teaching students how to "Ask" effectively? The most valuable skill is not just getting an answer, but using AI to inform better thinking and decision-making.