Elon University: 27% of Americans say they use AI chatbots like ChatGPT for personal, emotional, or social queries, rising to nearly 40% among adults under 50
More than a quarter of U.S. adults turn to chatbots for personal or emotional discussions, including for entertainment or social advice, a new survey found.
Context & Ripple Effects
The finding places personal conversation alongside an already broadening chatbot habit: a June survey found 49% of U.S. adults used chatbots in 2026, while a February teen survey showed use spanning information search, schoolwork and entertainment. The under-50 split suggests personal use is concentrating in the cohort already most exposed to chatbot interaction.
The result also sits beside signs that users are bringing higher-stakes questions to the same interfaces: an August survey found Americans using chatbots for health information and symptom questions. Public reaction to the new findings focused on the sensitivity of the information users may disclose and on chatbots’ limits as substitutes for human connection.
First-order effects
- Chatbot providers, including ChatGPT, are being used not only for tasks and information but for personal, emotional and social conversation, raising the importance of how those products handle sensitive disclosures.
- Adults under 50 account for a notably higher reported level of this use, making personal interaction a more central product expectation for services competing for that audience.
Second-order effects
- As chatbots absorb both personal conversation and health-related questions, providers face pressure to distinguish general-purpose assistance from experiences that imply emotional or health guidance.
- The use case gives policymakers and advocates a clearer basis to scrutinize privacy, disclosure and safety practices in AI companion-like interactions.
Third-order effects
- If personal use keeps broadening, conversational AI will be governed less like a discrete productivity tool and more like an always-available intermediary for sensitive decisions and relationships.
- The resulting market may reward assistants that can sustain trust and set clear boundaries, while making AI companion governance a broader concern than any single chatbot brand.
The trend: Consumer chatbots are shifting from occasional task tools toward an ambient personal interface, bringing privacy and companion-safety governance into the core product debate.