The Fastest Adoption in Digital History

In just three years, artificial intelligence has evolved from a technical curiosity into an everyday tool for millions. According to data cited by the Financial Times, more than 18 billion messages are sent to ChatGPT every week, and one in ten people worldwide has interacted with a conversational AI.

The phenomenon is not only quantitative — it’s cultural. Our relationship with technology has shifted. Most people no longer go online to search, but to ask. They don’t expect to read manuals — they expect solutions. And in that silent transition, AI has become the new interface between people and knowledge.

From Tool to Digital Companion

The study led by Dan Clark and Caroline Nevitt, published in the Financial Times, analyzes an essential question: what are we really using AI for? Data reveals that tutoring and teaching represent 10% of ChatGPT’s usage; writing and translation take second place; and information search ranks third — though it’s growing the fastest.

The pattern is clear: AI has become more of a personal assistant than a work assistant. People use it to learn, plan, decide, and often, to talk. According to Ronnie Chatterji, Chief Economist at OpenAI, more than 70% of messages are unrelated to work, focusing instead on everyday decision-making.

The Hidden Workforce: The Shadow Economy of Work AI

The report also highlights a curious phenomenon: while formal corporate adoption advances slowly, informal use has exploded. A study by MIT Media Lab identifies a “hidden AI economy” in which employees across sectors use ChatGPT, Claude, or Copilot without official company approval.

These users are not trying to replace workflows but to automate small tasks — drafting emails, summarizing reports, generating presentations, or translating texts. It’s an underground but massive use that’s redefining the line between individual productivity and corporate structure.

In other words, workers are already transforming how work happens — even if companies haven’t realized it yet.

The Domestic and Emotional Revolution

Adoption is not limited to professional life. Personal queries — from advice to emotional reflection — account for about 2% of total usage, according to the Financial Times. While the figure may seem small, it’s steadily growing. Thousands of users are beginning to treat AI not just as a tool but as an emotional interlocutor.

This raises new questions: What does it mean to trust an intelligence that doesn’t feel? What happens when personal decisions — from investing to parenting — pass through an algorithmic filter?

AI not only responds — it listens, remembers, and accompanies. And in that continuity, many users have found a form of digital connection once reserved for human interaction.

A Global Map of AI Use

Usage patterns vary by region. In the United States, dominant topics include technology and productivity; in Florida, financial services; and in Washington D.C., career advice. In Spain, nearly 40% of workers use AI in some form, according to Microsoft. The three most common queries are about immigration and citizenship, icon and image creation, and management system development and programming.

Claude, Anthropic’s model, already works with more than 300,000 companies. Google surpasses 2 billion monthly users in its AI-powered search summaries. Meta claims its assistant reaches 1 billion users per month. The numbers reveal a total, cross-sector, and inevitable adoption.

The Blurred Line

The transformation we are witnessing is not technological but anthropological. For the first time, humanity shares cognitive space with a different kind of intelligence. Machines no longer just execute commands — they interpret desires, anticipate needs, and return simulated empathy.

The risk is not that AI replaces jobs or tasks, but that it redefines what we consider “knowledge.” If millions delegate their decisions, our relationship with learning shifts — we stop learning to start asking.

But there’s also an opportunity: to build an augmented collective intelligence, where humans and machines learn from each other. If we preserve curiosity and critical thinking, this new form of assistance could become a bridge toward a more informed, not more dependent, society.

Source: Based on the report “How AI Became Our Personal Assistant,” by Dan Clark and Caroline Nevitt, published in the Financial Times.