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Main Authors: Kacperski, Celina, Bonnay, Denis, Kulshrestha, Juhi, Selb, Peter, Spitz, Andreas, Ulloa, Roberto
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.02142
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author Kacperski, Celina
Bonnay, Denis
Kulshrestha, Juhi
Selb, Peter
Spitz, Andreas
Ulloa, Roberto
author_facet Kacperski, Celina
Bonnay, Denis
Kulshrestha, Juhi
Selb, Peter
Spitz, Andreas
Ulloa, Roberto
contents A major challenge of our time is reducing disparities in access to and effective use of digital technologies, with recent discussions highlighting the role of AI in exacerbating the digital divide. We examine user characteristics that predict usage of the AI-powered conversational agent ChatGPT. We combine behavioral and survey data in a web tracked sample of N = 1376 German citizens to investigate differences in ChatGPT activity (usage, visits, and adoption) during the first 11 months from the launch of the service (November 30, 2022). Guided by a model of technology acceptance (UTAUT-2), we examine the role of socio-demographics commonly associated with the digital divide in ChatGPT activity and explore further socio-political attributes identified via stability selection in Lasso regressions. We confirm that lower age and higher education affect ChatGPT usage, but do not find that gender or income do. We find full-time employment and more children to be barriers to ChatGPT activity. Using a variety of social media was positively associated with ChatGPT activity. In terms of political variables, political knowledge and political self-efficacy as well as some political behaviors such as voting, debating political issues online and offline and political action online were all associated with ChatGPT activity, with online political debating and political self-efficacy negatively so. Finally, need for cognition and communication skills such as writing, attending meetings, or giving presentations, were also associated with ChatGPT engagement, though chairing/organizing meetings was negatively associated. Our research informs efforts to address digital disparities and promote digital literacy among underserved populations by presenting implications, recommendations, and discussions on ethical and social issues of our findings.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2309_02142
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Characteristics of ChatGPT users from Germany: implications for the digital divide from web tracking data
Kacperski, Celina
Bonnay, Denis
Kulshrestha, Juhi
Selb, Peter
Spitz, Andreas
Ulloa, Roberto
Computers and Society
A major challenge of our time is reducing disparities in access to and effective use of digital technologies, with recent discussions highlighting the role of AI in exacerbating the digital divide. We examine user characteristics that predict usage of the AI-powered conversational agent ChatGPT. We combine behavioral and survey data in a web tracked sample of N = 1376 German citizens to investigate differences in ChatGPT activity (usage, visits, and adoption) during the first 11 months from the launch of the service (November 30, 2022). Guided by a model of technology acceptance (UTAUT-2), we examine the role of socio-demographics commonly associated with the digital divide in ChatGPT activity and explore further socio-political attributes identified via stability selection in Lasso regressions. We confirm that lower age and higher education affect ChatGPT usage, but do not find that gender or income do. We find full-time employment and more children to be barriers to ChatGPT activity. Using a variety of social media was positively associated with ChatGPT activity. In terms of political variables, political knowledge and political self-efficacy as well as some political behaviors such as voting, debating political issues online and offline and political action online were all associated with ChatGPT activity, with online political debating and political self-efficacy negatively so. Finally, need for cognition and communication skills such as writing, attending meetings, or giving presentations, were also associated with ChatGPT engagement, though chairing/organizing meetings was negatively associated. Our research informs efforts to address digital disparities and promote digital literacy among underserved populations by presenting implications, recommendations, and discussions on ethical and social issues of our findings.
title Characteristics of ChatGPT users from Germany: implications for the digital divide from web tracking data
topic Computers and Society
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.02142