“Am I behind?” — Adoption Trends and Survey Q&A

Of 8.3 billion people on Earth, about 1.4 billion have ever used AI. Each dot is roughly 3.2 million people. Press play to watch adoption build from 1950.

Visualization by Damian Player

52%

of US instructors use AI at least weekly

25%

of faculty use it daily, the highest point since Spring 2023

1 in 3

daily AI users report a decreased workload, about 4x the rate of monthly users

61%

of US students use AI at least weekly

54%

of students use agentic AI daily, ahead of faculty and administrators

39%

of students now pay for AI out of pocket, up from 29% last year

17%

of US & Canada students agree their instructors are well equipped to guide AI use

88%

of organizations use AI in at least one business function

of organizations attribute more than 5% of their earnings to AI

Faculty adoption is a barbell: heavy users and non-users, with a thin middle
The middle gets the costs without the benefits. Daily users see the payoff

AI use across US businesses in 2026

Every number here comes from a source you can open or download without an account.

Share of US businesses using AI by company size

21.8% of all US businesses used AI in the last two weeks. 25.9% expect to be using it within six months.

1 to 4 employees21.9%

5 to 920.0%

10 to 1920.2%

20 to 4922.4%

50 to 9927.8%

100 to 24930.3%

250 or more41.5%

US Census Bureau, Business Trends and Outlook Survey, collected July 27 to August 9, 2026. To check a number in the download: on the Response Estimates sheet, filter the Empsize column to a size code (the Data Dictionary sheet maps codes A through G to these employee ranges) and the Question column to the Artificial Intelligence question; the Yes row under column 202616 is the number on the bar. Public domain.

Download the data (xlsx)Census BTOS data page

Answered in this block

Am I behind?
What would I even use it for?
How do I know when to trust it?
Can I use AI with student data?
How do I keep work and personal chats separate?
Why switch from the personal account I’ve used for years?
What if the tool I already use is better?
What if I’m just not interested?

Answered later today

Can I build an assistant around my syllabus and course content?What’s Worth Building
Can AI run my to-do list or a second brain?What’s Worth Building
Can I analyze student data and run metrics?What’s Worth Building
Could AI suggest a class schedule from a student’s needs and the course offerings?What’s Worth Building
Can AI manage my inbox?Scheduled Tasks
How do I write better prompts?Woven through the builds
What about personal uses, travel, meals, budgets?Scheduled Tasks and the take-homes
Which tools have lasting value?The close