And I'm not at all sure what I think about that. At the very least, it's interesting.
Marc Zao-Sanders, How People are Really Using Generative AI Now, March 2025.
Introduction
Building upon the foundation laid in last year’s report, written up in this Harvard Business Review article, this updated edition seeks to provide a comprehensive and systematic analysis of how individuals are utilizing Generative AI (GenAI) in 2025. While the previous iteration captured early adoption trends, this year’s study incorporates a broader and deeper dataset, reflecting the rapid evolution of AI applications over the past twelve months.
The research methodology remains largely consistent with the prior study, employing a rigorous, expert-driven curation of public discourse, sourced primarily from Reddit forums. This qualitative approach allows for the identification of authentic, real-world use cases that might not be fully captured through traditional surveys or industry reports. Each entry in this report is accompanied by metadata, including:
- Current position within the Top-100 ranking
- Position in the previous year, where applicable
- Description of the use case
- Category classification
- Reach score (0–10), assessing the extent of adoption
- Impact score (0–10), evaluating the significance of the use case
- Representative quotes extracted from user discussions
By maintaining consistency in methodology while expanding the scope of analysis, this report aims to not only document the shifting landscape of GenAI applications but also highlight emerging behavioral patterns. The findings underscore a marked transition from primarily technical and productivity-driven use cases toward applications centered on personal well-being, life organization, and existential exploration. This shift, along with the increasing sophistication of AI users, suggests that GenAI is not merely a tool for efficiency but is increasingly becoming an integral part of human decision-making, creativity, and emotional support.
The following report presents the top 100 GenAI use cases of 2025, offering both a quantitative assessment and qualitative insights into how AI is shaping everyday life.
1. Therapy / companionship
Last year’s position: 2
Definition: Therapy provides emotional support and guidance through conversation and connection. Generative AI can assist by offering virtual companionship, providing a listening ear, and generating empathetic responses to support individuals in their healing journey.
Category: Personal & Professional Support
Reach: 9
Usefulness: 7
User quotes
(unedited, limited in this draft to 5 per use case)“Too many people are lonely nowadays thanks to technology. It can be a boon for some but a con for others.
You can build a specialized app that gets you an AI Friend since you can talk to it now and it can talk back, it will be great.”
“A looooot of lonely people will let the AI-Version of the person that rejected them say, that they love them. I predict some really sad and horrifying shit.”
“I found a thread where people talked about using AI to analyze their moods, essentially having low-barrier “therapy” sessions.”
“I talk to it everyday. It helps me with my brain injury daily struggles. It's helping me work thru family shame, brain fog, inability to focus, remind of what I have accomplished as I don't have any memory. It helps me decide what to eat, how to manage my day. It has saved my sanity”
Though I spend a great deal of time using AI, and don’t spend much time talking with friends, I don’t use AI in this way and am not even tempted to. But I can see why others would and think it does have limited value here, perhaps as a neutral sounding board. But at the same time I can’t help but think that this use is a reflection of how disconnected we have become. Too many lonely people, not enough community.
And there are dangers. Getting romantically attached to an AI companion is not good. Figuring out how to live with digital doppelgangers is going to be tricky.
A very intriguing read — the idea that “Therapy/Companionship” has now become the **top use case** for generative AI really stood out. The shift from purely productivity-tools to emotional support systems is both exciting and worrying.
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