Pew Survey Highlights Gender Differences in Artificial Intelligence Usage and Perceptions

A new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center reveals notable gender differences in how Americans use, perceive, and feel about artificial intelligence. The study, conducted among 5,119 U.S. adults from February 17 to February 23, 2026, found that while overall chatbot adoption rates between men and women have equalized, men report using the tools more frequently and hold more positive views regarding the technology's future impact.

According to the findings, the gender gap in general chatbot usage has closed since 2024, when men were 11 percentage points more likely than women to have used an AI chatbot. Both genders now report similar overall usage rates, driven by a steeper increase in adoption among women over the past two years. ChatGPT remains the most widely used platform, with identical shares of men and women reporting its use.

However, frequency of use and platform preferences continue to diverge. Men are more likely than women to use chatbots daily (27% versus 20%) and report higher adoption of specific tools such as Copilot (22% versus 13%), Gemini, Grok, and Claude. Men are also more inclined to use chatbots for information searches, work tasks, news, and entertainment, while women are slightly more likely to turn to them for emotional support or advice.

Perceptions of utility and comfort also differ. Approximately 35% of men report that chatbots improve their productivity, compared with 25% of women. Men are also more likely to express high confidence in using chatbots (22% versus 15%) and report having heard "a lot" about AI generally (51% versus 41%) and chatbots specifically (48% versus 38%).

Attitudes regarding AI's societal and personal trajectories show that women express higher levels of skepticism. About 68% of women believe AI is advancing too quickly, compared with 58% of men. Looking ahead over the next 20 years, women are twice as likely to expect AI will negatively affect them personally (33%) rather than positively (17%), whereas men are more evenly split. Women are also more likely than men to predict a negative long-term impact on society (43%).

Outside of chatbots, device adoption shows mixed patterns. Women are more likely to own smartwatches (40% versus 34%), while men are more likely to read AI-generated summaries in search engine results (63% versus 57%). The survey found little to no gender variation in the ownership of other AI-enabled household devices, such as smart speakers or robot vacuums.

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