How People Are Really Using AI in 2026
After analyzing more than 12,000 real-world AI use cases, researcher Marc Zao-Sanders found that people are increasingly turning to AI for practical help and entertainment, while some self-improvement uses—like organizing life, finding purpose, and healthier living—have fallen out of the top 10.
One finding stood out: More than a quarter of the top use cases involve asking AI to do some of our thinking for us.
Marc and his team call this "thinkslop": the lazy, sloppy thinking that can emerge when we rely on AI to form opinions, make decisions, or figure out what we think instead of doing that work ourselves.
Find the top 100 use cases here: https://s.hbr.org/4vgnhzc
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(Editor's note: We reposted this to correct an earlier typo.)
One finding stood out: More than a quarter of the top use cases involve asking AI to do some of our thinking for us.
Marc and his team call this "thinkslop": the lazy, sloppy thinking that can emerge when we rely on AI to form opinions, make decisions, or figure out what we think instead of doing that work ourselves.
Find the top 100 use cases here: https://s.hbr.org/4vgnhzc
__
(Editor's note: We reposted this to correct an earlier typo.)
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