Creators are told almost daily that AI will either supercharge or flatten their work. This article sets out what Pew Research Center’s 2026 surveys of US adults actually measured about chatbots, creativity and wider attitudes to AI, and what those numbers can and cannot say. All figures describe adults in the United States, not the UK or any other country.
What did Pew ask, and whom?
The main data come from a Pew survey fielded on 17 to 23 February 2026 among 5,119 US adults drawn from its American Trends Panel. It covered chatbots such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot. A second Pew survey, fielded 22 to 28 June 2026 among 3,488 US adults, asked about general feelings towards AI and about jobs.
Both are representative of US adults, according to Pew. Neither is a survey of professional creators, so the findings describe the general public’s experience of “creativity”, a word each respondent interprets for themselves. That caveat matters throughout.
How many people use chatbots at all?
According to Pew, 49% of US adults said in February 2026 that they ever use AI chatbots, up from 33% in 2024. Pew notes that the 2024 question wording differed slightly, so the comparison is indicative rather than exact. Pew also reported that 44% use ChatGPT, the most-used chatbot it asked about.
Use is strongly tied to age:
| Age group | Ever use AI chatbots |
|---|---|
| 18 to 29 | 66% |
| 30 to 49 | 61% |
| 50 to 64 | 42% |
| 65 and over | 23% |
Source: Pew Research Center, February 2026 survey. The gap between the youngest and oldest groups is 43 percentage points (66 minus 23).
Do chatbots help or hurt creativity?
Pew asked people what effect chatbots have on their own creativity. Across all US adults, 21% said chatbots help, 11% said they hurt, 17% said neither and 51% said they do not use chatbots. Those four answers add to 100%. Pew summarises the result as Americans being more likely to see chatbots helping than hurting their creativity.
By age, the picture is less tidy:
| Age group | Helps | Hurts | Neither | Does not use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 to 29 | 25% | 20% | 20% | 34% |
| 30 to 49 | 27% | 14% | 20% | 39% |
| 50 to 64 | 20% | 7% | 15% | 58% |
| 65 and over | 10% | 2% | 11% | 77% |
Source: Pew Research Center, February 2026 survey. Rows may not sum exactly to 100% because of rounding or unreported answers.
Is that the same as asking users only?
Not quite, and the difference is the most useful thing a reader can take from the table. Half the sample does not use chatbots, so the headline percentages are diluted by non-users.
A worked example, using Pew’s published figures, shows how much the picture shifts when the base changes. This is illustrative arithmetic by the publication, not a Pew statistic.
- All adults: 49% use chatbots. Of them, 21 points say “helps” and 11 say “hurts”. That is 21 ÷ 49, about 43% of users saying “helps”, and 11 ÷ 49, about 22% saying “hurts”.
- Adults aged 18 to 29: 66% use chatbots. 25 ÷ 66 is about 38% of users saying “helps”, and 20 ÷ 66 is about 30% saying “hurts”.
- Adults aged 65 and over: 23% use chatbots. 10 ÷ 23 is about 43% saying “helps”, and 2 ÷ 23 is about 9% saying “hurts”.
On this reading, younger users are the most divided: the share who feel chatbots hurt their creativity is roughly three times that of the oldest users, even though both groups lean towards “helps”. Because the age rows are rounded and the shares are small, treat the percentages as rough indicators.
What do people use chatbots for in creative work?
Pew found that 24% of US adults say they use chatbots to create or edit images or videos. Pew’s age breakdown for that question shows 34% of 18 to 29s, 34% of 30 to 49s, 18% of 50 to 64s and 5% of those 65 and over.
That is the closest the survey comes to a measure of visual and video work, the raw material of much creator content. It does not say whether the resulting images are published, sold or labelled. Platform rules on that question are covered in the guide to how YouTube and Meta ask creators to label AI-generated content, which is a separate matter from how many people experiment with the tools.
How do relationships and happiness compare?
Creativity is not the only personal area Pew asked about. According to Pew, 6% of adults say chatbots help their relationships with other people and 7% say they hurt them, with 35% saying neither. For happiness, 8% say help, 5% say hurt and 36% say neither. Pew’s own summary is that few people say chatbots affect their happiness or relationships.
For ideas about connection, this is a useful corrective: a lot of public discussion assumes chatbots are reshaping social life, while the February survey found most respondents describing no effect either way. Pew’s separate research on younger people is covered in the guide to what Pew found about teens, social media and AI chatbots.
Are Americans getting more worried about AI?
In the June 2026 survey, 52% of US adults said they are more concerned than excited about the increased use of AI in daily life, up from 37% in 2021. Another 37% said they are equally concerned and excited, and 9% said they are more excited than concerned.
Among adults under 30, 55% are more concerned than excited, up from 31% in 2021. Pew says that for the first time a majority of this age group says so. Excitement among the under-30s fell from 25% in 2021 to 11% in 2026.
Concern in 2026 by age, according to Pew, was 55% for ages 18 to 29, 51% for 30 to 49, 47% for 50 to 64 and 59% for 65 and over. The oldest group is therefore the most concerned, even though it is the least likely to use chatbots. That pattern is the publication’s observation from Pew’s tables, and Pew’s data alone do not explain it.
What do people expect for jobs?
On work, Pew reported that 71% of US adults think AI will lead to fewer jobs in the country over the next 20 years, up from 64% in 2024. Only 5% expect more jobs, 10% expect little difference and 14% are not sure. Among adults under 30, 73% expect fewer jobs, up from 61% in 2024.
These are expectations about the whole economy, not predictions about creator income and not measurements of what has happened. The numbers show sentiment: a young audience that is both heavy on chatbot use and increasingly uneasy. For creators and brands, that may shape how audiences react to AI-made content, although the surveys do not test that directly. The explainer on media literacy covers how UK regulators frame the skills people use to judge what they see online.
What do these surveys not tell us?
Several limits are worth stating plainly.
- They are US surveys. UK, EU and other populations may differ, and this article does not claim otherwise.
- They are self-reports. “Helps my creativity” is a personal judgement, not a measured output.
- They cover the general public. Professional creators, who may use AI differently, are not separated out.
- They are snapshots. The February and June fieldwork dates mean that tools, prices and policies may have moved since.
- Pew reports associations, not causes. Nothing here shows that chatbots raise or lower anyone’s creativity.
The questions of likeness and impersonation, which many creators link with AI, are a different strand again; the guide to YouTube’s likeness detection covers one platform’s tool.
What the numbers add up to
Taken together, Pew’s 2026 surveys describe a public split down the middle on usage, mildly positive about chatbots’ effect on personal creativity among those who use them, and increasingly wary of AI as a whole. Younger adults sit at both ends: the most likely to use chatbots and to say they help, but also the most likely among users to say they hurt, and a majority are now more concerned than excited. For anyone writing about creators and AI, the most defensible statement is the narrow one: these are US adults’ self-reported views as of February and June 2026, according to Pew.
This article is general information based on published survey findings. It is not advice, and it describes US adults only; survey results and platform policies change.
Sources: Pew Research Center (Americans’ Views on AI Chatbots, Smart Devices and AI’s Impact); Pew Research Center (How Americans’ opinions and use of AI differ by age); Pew Research Center (Young US adults are increasingly wary of AI, concerned it will take jobs)
