AI Backlash Grows as ChatGPT Reaches 1 Billion Monthly Users
AI use is soaring despite public anxiety: ChatGPT hit 1 billion monthly users as US states pursue more than 2,100 bills to govern technology across the country.
Summary
AI adoption is accelerating as public opinion deteriorates. Pew finds more US adults expect negative than positive personal and societal effects, with young adults most pessimistic. More than half worldwide tell Stanford that AI products make them nervous. Gallup’s May poll found 71% of US adults would oppose a local AI data center, versus 53% for a nuclear plant, while NBC’s March poll put AI below ICE in popularity.
Sensor Tower says ChatGPT reached 1 billion monthly users in May, while Google DeepMind’s Gemini logged 950 million in July. Pew says half of US adults use chatbots, more than twice the 2023 share, and one in four use them daily. More than one-third of adults across 38 OECD countries used generative AI in the previous three months. Adoption is highest and sentiment more pessimistic in the Global North, while the lower-adoption Global South is more optimistic, although the correlation does not prove causation.
Resistance appears focused partly on companies forcing AI into products while predicting historic upheaval, echoing backlash against Facebook, Twitter and Google search despite mass use. Unlike social platforms’ content and connection lock-in, AI users still have leading open-source alternatives to Google, OpenAI and Anthropic. All 50 US states have passed or proposed AI rules, producing more than 2,100 bills, ten times the number three years ago. Springboards is building an LLM designed for more varied answers; its CEO says LLMs cannot be reversed but can be made different. Regulation, choice and market pressure could produce AI that states its limits, although trillion-dollar companies remain difficult to shift.
Positives
- ChatGPT reached 1 billion monthly users in May, demonstrating rapid mainstream adoption despite worsening sentiment.
- Google DeepMind’s Gemini logged 950 million users in July, creating a large-scale competitor to ChatGPT.
- Half of US adults now use chatbots, more than twice the 2023 share, and one in four use them daily.
- All 50 US states have passed or proposed AI legislation, creating more than 2,100 bills governing development and deployment.
- Open-source alternatives to Google, OpenAI and Anthropic preserve consumer choice and competitive pressure.
- Springboards is developing an LLM intended to produce a wider variety of answers than mainstream models.
Risks & concerns
- More US adults expect AI to harm them personally and society than benefit either, with pessimism strongest among young people.
- More than half of people worldwide say AI products and services make them nervous.
- 71% of US adults would oppose a local AI data center, compared with 53% opposing a nuclear power plant.
- AI ranked below ICE in popularity in NBC’s March poll.
- More than 2,100 state bills create a fragmented regulatory landscape, with the volume rising tenfold in three years.
- Trillion-dollar technology companies remain difficult to influence despite public pressure, regulation and expanding competition.