"Americans and AI 2026" is a Pew Research Center report published June 17, 2026 by the center's Internet & Technology team. It documents how U.S. adults use AI chatbots and AI-enabled devices and how they view AI's effect on society, the pace of its development, and data security. The findings draw on a survey of 5,119 U.S. adults — members of Pew's American Trends Panel — conducted February 17–23, 2026. The authors are Jeffrey Gottfried, William Bishop, Monica Anderson, Michelle Faverio, Eugenie Park, and Colleen McClain.
Adoption findings
About half of U.S. adults (49%) reported ever using AI chatbots, up from 33% in 2024, and about a quarter (24%) used them daily (12% several times a day; 4% almost constantly). By brand, ChatGPT led at 44% (up from 34% in 2025 and 18% in 2023), followed by Gemini (24%), Copilot (17%), Meta AI (14%), Grok (8%), Claude (6%), and Character.ai (3%). The most common uses were searching for information (42%), work tasks among employed adults (38%), fun or entertainment (25%), creating or editing images and video (24%), medical advice (20%), diet and fitness (20%), news (13%), emotional support or advice (10%), and companionship (4%). Adults under 50 were about twice as likely as those 50 and older to use ChatGPT (57% vs. 28%).
On AI-enabled devices, 37% reported owning a smartwatch, 35% a smart speaker, 18% a smart doorbell, 13% a robot vacuum, and 11% a smart thermostat. Sixty percent said they read the AI summaries placed at the top of search results, 30% said they did not, and 10% were unsure.
Views on impact, pace, and security
Views of AI's societal effect over the next 20 years tilted negative: 40% expected AI to harm society, 16% expected benefit, 31% expected equally positive and negative effects, and 13% were unsure. Asked about the effect on themselves personally, 31% were negative, 23% positive, 27% equal, and 19% unsure. Younger adults were more negative — 48% of those 18–29 said AI would harm society, against 37% of those 50 and older. On pace, 63% said AI was advancing too quickly, 19% about right, 2% too slowly, and 16% were unsure. On data security, 71% said increased AI use would make their personal information less secure, against 3% who said more secure.
Views on regulation and corporate responsibility
Sixty-seven percent expressed little or no confidence in the U.S. government to regulate AI effectively, up from 62% in 2024, and roughly 60% were not confident in U.S. companies to develop and use AI responsibly. The report describes a partisan reversal on government regulation: Democrats' lack of confidence rose 20 points to 74% between 2024 and 2026, while Republicans' fell from 70% to 61%. On companies developing AI responsibly, 65% of Democrats and 53% of Republicans were not confident, a partisan gap the report says did not meaningfully exist in 2024.
Provenance
The report was pulled by the gap-identifier on June 21, 2026 from pewresearch.org, the institution's canonical host. Pew published the full report alongside a PDF, questionnaire, topline, and methodology page; the survey was fielded to the American Trends Panel, a probability-based panel of U.S. adults. As a single institutional survey reporting fast-moving adoption figures, the page carries medium confidence pending corroboration from later survey waves.
- Report: pewresearch.org
- Report PDF: pewresearch.org
- Methodology: pewresearch.org
Relationships
- supports: Public Opinion on AI
- related: AI Companions, AI and Civil Liberties