Convenience is a hot commodity. Here’s how to decide when it’s actually worth it.
Vox · Gabe Bullard ·
New apps and devices are easy to adopt and hard to quit — which is why it’s essential to approach with intention.
Despite the widespread protests over data centers and Flock cameras, the viral videos of people pranking bots in job interviews, frustration with slop, and rage at tech CEOs’ rightward lean, AI is spreading.
According to the Pew Research Center, about half of American adults have used a chatbot, and around a quarter do so daily. By multiple measurements, the public has adopted AI faster than they did home computers or the internet. I’m seeing it more and more in my personal life: On video calls, I notice the Claude app in the menu bar of shared screens. An ad on Instagram pushing me to use Meta’s AI assistant revealed which of my friends had already begun doing so (something that might not even be true).
Still, many of the people who are using AI have mixed feelings about it. Pew notes that of the chatbot adopters they surveyed, 40 percent believe AI will have a more negative than positive effect on society; a 2026 Gallup poll of more than 1,500 14‑ to 29‑year‑olds came to a similar conclusion. No one I talk to about their personal AI use seems to particularly like it, but they accept it. In some cases, it’s the least-bad option; asking a chatbot a question is easier than searching, especially as search engines become so enshittified they’re unusable. In other cases, the tech just seems inevitable. Articles, analysts, and executives insist this is the future. Might as well get on board.