You may have already read that Ofcom’s recent report on internet use in the UK found fewer and fewer of us are turning to the apps for love.
But for men, it seems, some of their attention is more likely to go to generative AI tools like ChatGPT instead.
The report found that “Half of UK online males aged 16+ have used a generative AI tool in the past year, compared to a third of females.”
This was true across every age category, though the largest difference was seen between women and men in the 45-54-year-old age bracket (47% vs 25% ― men in that age bracket are using it almost twice as much).
What are people using generative AI for?
The data didn’t show exactly what people are using generative AI for (that’d be a pretty big ask), but the report did note some trends in different age groups.
ChatGPT is the most popular AI tool among adults in the UK, so it seems a lot of generative AI use is text-based.
A 16% dip in ChatGPT use among 18-24-year-olds coincided with the end of the academic year, they note, writing “with this age group potentially having less need to find information or content relating to their education.”
Interestingly twice as many men as women (28% vs 14%) in the 16-24 bracket thought generative AI provided reliable information.
Among people over 16 years of age in the UK, the most common use of generative AI was:
- Finding information or content – 36%
- Exploring the technology – 30%
- Summarising existing text – 24%
- Seeking advice – 23%
- Creating images – 20%
- Creating new text – 20%
- Just chatting – 17%
- For planning – 17%
- Coding – 10%
- Creative videos – 6%
- For emotional support/therapy – 6%
- Creating audio outputs – 5%.
Only 18% of adults over 16 were confident the information was reliable, with 61% neutral in their trust.
Why aren’t women using generative AI as much?
The report said that overall, people who didn’t use generative AI simply weren’t interested in it (38%) or didn’t see the need to use it (35%).
17% of women versus 11% of men had concerns about using generative AI ― older women in particular were more likely to feel this way than older men (65+) and more likely to say they’d never heard of generative AI.
Among 16+-year-old UK internet users, women were far more likely than men to have concerns about the future impact of generative AI on society (64% vs 55%).
With the technology tied to exploitation and high energy use, TikTok user and podcast host Corporate Gossip says she has her own reasons for avoiding generative AI.
“I’m a lady who doesn’t use AI, and let me tell you why,” she said in response to an article claiming the trend may leave women behind, first explaining the exploitative and environmental associations.
Additionally, she says, “the idea that moving faster, being more productive, producing more per hour will lead to better business outcomes is an absence of critical thought and a [lack of] appreciation for history that I find quite astonishing, actually.”
She continued, “I would challenge anyone who agrees with this... to read a book about the Dust Bowl,” she continued, referring to a period of drought in America partly brought on by reckless overfarming.
Of course, the video only reflects one woman’s opinion ― but the gender gap in generative AI use does persist across all age groups.