Scientists have uncovered four entirely new personality types that all ChatGPT users fall into.
According to experts from the University of Oxford and the Berlin University Alliance, every chatbot user has a unique personality type, each with their own motivations.
Some truly tech–savvy users fall into the category of ‘AI enthusiasts’.
At the very other end of the enthusiasm scale, someone just ‘dipping a toe’ into the world of AI would be a ‘reserved explorer’.
If you constantly weigh up the potential benefits and drawbacks, you might just be a ‘curious adopter’.
Meanwhile, if you care about results and convenience above all else, the experts say you are probably a ‘naive pragmatist’.
Lead author Dr Christoph Gerling, of the Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, says: ‘Using AI feels intuitive, but mastering it requires exploration, prompting skills and learning through experimentation. This makes the “task–technology fit” more dependent on the individual than ever before.’
So, which AI personality type are you?
Scientists have uncovered four entirely new personality types that all ChatGPTusers fall into
According to experts from the University of Oxfordand the Berlin University Alliance, every chatbot user has a unique personality type, each with their own motivations (stock image)
In their study, the researchers analysed 344 early users within the first four months of ChatGPT’s public release on November 30, 2020.
They discovered that the ‘one–size–fits–all’ approach of previous technologies doesn’t apply to AI’s incredibly varied applications.
Instead, the scientists found that each of the early adopters could be sorted into one of four totally distinct groups.
In the first group are those people whom the researchers call ‘AI enthusiasts’.
These users made up 25.6 per cent of the participants, and are ‘highly engaged and seek both productivity and social benefits of modern–day AI’.
AI enthusiasts tend to strongly agree that AI has practical benefits, but are also the only group to note a ‘perceived social presence’ while talking to a chatbot.
This means that they tend to ‘recognise and treat AI tools as real people’ that can satisfy a need for social connection and bonding.
The researchers note that people in this group tend to ‘see and seek’ the social benefits of AI and trust systems more completely.
Scientists have identified four brand–new personality types that all ChatGPT users fit into: the AI enthusiast, the naive pragmatist, the cautious adopter, and the reserved explorer
In fact, this is the only group of early AI users not to have any significant privacy concerns about ChatGPT.
In the second group are people referred to as ‘naïve pragmatists’.
This group included 20.6 per cent of the participants, who are ‘utility–driven users who value convenience and results above all else’.
The researchers point out that people in this group tend to prioritise the benefits of AI over any potential privacy concerns.
While they strongly believe in the practical and job–specific benefits, they are less interested in the social benefits than AI enthusiasts.
Next are the ‘cautious adopters’, who are the largest group at 35.5 per cent of participants.
According to the researchers, people in this group are ‘curious and pragmatic, yet vigilant’ and ‘constantly weigh the functional benefits against potential drawbacks’.
Compared with AI enthusiasts and naive pragmatists, this group are far more concerned about the potential privacy risks that come with AI.
Finally, the most apprehensive group of early adopters are the ‘reserved explorers’.
This group made up just 18.3 per cent of the ChatGPT users surveyed, and includes people who ‘remain unsure of the technology’s benefits’.
The researchers describe reserved explorers as sceptical users who are ‘dipping a toe in’ the world of AI but are not yet convinced.
Unlike the other groups, these AI users are ‘unable to see the personal benefits’ of using ChatGPT and tend to be very concerned about issues of privacy.
What surprised the researchers about these groups is that, despite three out of the four groups having serious privacy concerns about ChatGPT, all continued to use the AI chatbot regardless.
Based on this finding, the researchers warn that trying to make AI more human–like, or anthropomorphising it, could backfire.
They note that privacy–conscious users may begin to blame the AI itself for potential violations, rather than the company behind it, eroding trust in the system even faster.
