South Africa ranks as one of the biggest users of ChatGPT and AI globally
South Africa ranks among the top 10 countries in the world for survey respondents who admit to using Artificial Intelligence (AI), ChatGPT in particular.
This is outlined in Boston Consulting Group’s CCI Global Consumer Sentiment Survey, which sought to decipher how knowledgeable the public is about the monumental rise of AI (looking at Generative AI), and their subsequent feelings towards it.
It’s been almost two full years since OpenAI released ChatGPT, helping kickstart the generative AI revolution.
“It took Spotify some 150 days to garner a million users. Instagram, about 75 days. ChatGPT? Just five days,” said the report’s researchers, Nivedita Balaji, Aparna Bharadwaj, Jessica Apotheker, and Megan Moore.
The report outlines that consumers generally have a nuanced understanding of AI—”far more than business leaders give them credit,” said Bharadwaj.
Looking at the countries surveyed, India has the highest share (45%) of people using ChatGPT, which could be partly due to the country’s large number of IT jobs where GenAI could be seen as a valuable asset.
| Rank | Country | % Who Actively Use ChatGPT |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | 45 |
| 2 | Morocco | 38 |
| 3 | UAE | 34 |
| 4 | Argentina | 32 |
| 5 | Brazil | 32 |
| 6 | Indonesia | 32 |
| 7 | South Africa | 31 |
| 8 | Philippines | 28 |
| 9 | Sweden | 27 |
| 10 | South Korea | 26 |
| 11 | Türkiye | 23 |
| 12 | USA | 23 |
| 13 | Australia | 22 |
| 14 | Mexico | 22 |
| 15 | UK | 22 |
| 16 | Japan | 19 |
| 17 | China | 18 |
| 18 | France | 18 |
| 19 | Germany | 18 |
| 20 | Saudi Arabia | 18 |
Additionally, the survey found that consumers’ awareness of ChatGPT “is significantly higher than expected.”
The countries with the highest prevalence of people who are aware of of ChatGPT is India (93%) and the United Arab Emirates (91%).
South Africa’s sits at 80%.
The report hypothesizes that individuals are embracing various AI tools in numerous ways to fulfil unaddressed needs, valuing the “three Cs” that AI brings:
- Comfort, enhancing personal well-being by aiding with health, financial, and other ambitions. For instance, 32% of those surveyed have utilised health and fitness applications powered by AI.
- Customisation, offering support in discovering the appropriate product or service or achieving personal goals. Among survey participants, well over a quarter have sought AI’s assistance for tailored recommendations on products.
- Convenience, aiming to minimise hassle and effort. The survey indicated that 28% of respondents have engaged with AI-enabled visual search to locate products resembling or matching their desired items.
In total, 75% of those surveyed have interacted with ChatGPT or other AI-driven services.
Notably, this figure is considerably higher in countries like India, Brazil, and the United Arab Emirates, “where AI usage is leapfrogging the levels seen in so-called mature markets,” said the researchers.
People are both excited and concerned about AI
According to the report, while many are excited about the developments of AI, a significant portion see potential downsides if the technology is not “done right.”
For lifestyle uses of GenAI, respondents expressed a mix of excitement (43%) and concern (29%).
Excitement about GenAI in the workplace was higher at 70%, with 15% expressing concern.
The degree to which people are excited or concerned about AI’s impact in the workplace largely reflects the jobs they hold.
Overall, the survey found that 55% of respondents believe that they cannot easily be replaced at work by AI or other technologies while 19% report that they already feel vulnerable or wonder if they should begin to worry.
Those who feel most vulnerable are in marketing and communications as well as in finance and accounting, areas with jobs that tend to be process-intensive support roles that can perhaps be automated.
At the other end of the spectrum are people in relationship-intensive roles; these individuals report feeling less threatened by AI.
“At the same time, respondents voiced some insightful concerns about AI,” said the researchers.
33% are worried about data security and ethical use of AI, and 30% are worried about the possibility of AI replacing workers in certain jobs.
“All the above factors come together in an interesting phenomenon we call the ‘misinformation-excitement-concern’ curve,” said the researchers.
“Before using AI, consumers initially—and understandably—are worried about this new and unfamiliar world and are vulnerable to misinformation and myths about it.”
“In addition, AI is a nascent technology, one that is especially confusing for those who are not digitally savvy,” they added.
However, as consumers learn more about AI and interact with apps like ChatGPT or AI-enabled shopping recommendations, they learn more about the possibilities—the “three Cs” that AI promises.
But the growing understanding that comes from greater experience quickly surfaces more thoughtful concerns, different from their original fears.
Among them:
- Could we become too reliant on AI?
- Could my own job come to be at risk?
- Is my data going to be compromised?
“It’s essential that marketers and leaders understand this curve when incorporating, developing, and deploying AI—to meet people where they are, foster excitement, and address concerns,” said the researchers.
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