Ken Brown, University of Iowa - AI is Not Just For Work Anymore

Older adults are starting to use AI at home, too.Ken Brown, Tippie Children Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship at the Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa, says it’s not just for work anymore.Faculty Bio:Ken Brown, Ph.D., is Tippie Children Professor of Management in the Tippie College of Business and department executive officer of the Educational Policy and Leadership Studies Department, College of Education, both at the University of Iowa. He earned a BS in Psychology from the University of Maryland and MA and PhD degrees in Psychology from Michigan State University. Brown is the former associate dean of the undergraduate program in Tippie and served as a Fulbright Specialist at Seoul National University.Transcripts:We know that generative artificial intelligence tools are becoming a bigger part of peoples’ work lives, but are they using those tools at home, too?A recent survey we conducted here at the University of Iowa shows that yes, they are.For many, in fact, AI has become an even bigger part and is now a go-to tech tool at home as well as the office.We surveyed more than 1,000 people in December and found that more people are using generative AI for personal activities and projects than use it for work. We found that of those familiar with generative AI, more than 50% used it for personal activities and projects; only 35% used it at work.Even among full-time employees, more people reported they used it for personal activities than work, and more people feel that generative AI helps them personally than helps them professionally. Of those most frequently using generative AI programs, ChatGPT was the best-known, followed by CoPilot and Gemini.One of the findings that surprised us was that more retired people than we expected use ChatGPT for projects for personal use at home. Nine percent of the more than 264 retired respondents reported they were frequent users of the technology. Only 6 percent of retirees had never used it or heard of it, suggesting a willingness on their part to embrace the new technology.One of the study’s co-authors said that finding tracks with his own family experience, as his retired parents have started using AI as a search engine for such tasks as finding recipes or learning about things they see in the news.While the conversation about AI so far has been focused on the technology’s impact in workplace and educational settings, our survey suggests we should be looking more closely at its impact on retirees, as well. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.academicminute.org