New data shows how Britain really uses ChatGPT
Key Points
- OpenAI has published new data that reveals how people in the UK are using its ChatGPT LLM.
- The data shows that the share of non-work queries has increased substantially since the launch of the platform.
- Most work-related queries were related to writing and practical guidance, with writing and editing documents accounting for more than 18% of all queries.
- The United Kingdom ranks above the United States for AI adoption, but behind France.
OpenAI has published its latest data on how people use ChatGPT in the workplace and beyond, providing insight into how Britons are interacting with AI.
New OpenAI Signals data reveals that the task most workers in the UK use ChatGPT for is writing and practical guidance.
Overall, activities related to writing accounted for 38.4% of work-related messages, followed by 23.5% of messages which were seeking practical guidance.
OpenAI notes that its dataset excludes enterprise and Codex usage, which means it likely underrepresents business and technical use cases, such as enterprise ChatGPT software development activities.
It is clear from the data related that the industries most affected by the advent of AI including marketing, design, and communications.
6.6% of work-related ChatGPT activities in the United Kingdom were related to the creation and editing of visual assets, and 5% were related to the development of marketing or promotional materials.
Another frequent use of OpenAI’s LLM was “judging the qualities of objects, services, or people”, which accounted for 3.5% of activities.
Over time, people in the UK are increasingly using ChatGPT outside of work. In July 2024, 62.4% of all message sent to ChatGPT were work-related. By the end of 2024, the split between work and personal usage was around 50%.
Today, just 30.9% of all messages sent to ChatGPT in the UK are work-related, the rest are personal activities.
In work settings, the most common usages of ChatGPT were related to writing and technical help. While activities ChatGPT was used for in personal contexts include self-expression and seeking practical guidance.
Just under half (42.2%) of work-related ChatGPT messages are requests for the LLM to complete a task or produce an output, 30.8% are requests for information, and 27.1% are statements of self-expression that do not require information or an action.
This changes substantially for personal usage, with 44.9% of activities being queries for information or clarification, and 32.8% being incidents of self-expression.
People in the UK aged between 25 and 34 are most likely to be using ChatGPT, followed by those aged 35-44 and 18-24-year-olds. The group that accounted for the least amount of queries was Britons aged 65 and above.
The United Kingdom ranks 41st as a country in terms of per-capita ChatGPT usage, ahead of the United States at 49th, but behind France at rank 22. The country with the highest number of messages sent per person is Azerbaijan.
