Technology

Ranked: All the Things People Use AI for in 2025

Published

1 month ago

April 23, 2025

Pallavi Rao

Graphics/Design:

Miranda Smith

See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.

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Ranked: All the Things People Use AI for in 2025

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Key Takeaways

People are using AI the most for support (both professional and personal) in 2025.
The top three use cases all show AI can assist humans in managing both emotions and their life.
Content creation, learning, and creativity uses are still popular.

Thought leaders dubbed ChatGPT’s emergence—and subsequent generative AI proliferation—as the “fourth industrial age.”

Whether it will re-shape the economy entirely still remains to be seen. But there’s no denying that most people are familiar with, and are actively using AI.

What are they using it for?

This ranking tracks the most popular AI use cases as sourced from an analysis done by Marc Zao-Sanders for Harvard Business Review. He examined thousands of forum posts over the last year in a follow-up to his 2024 analysis.

The top 30 ranks from this report have been visualized in this graphic. Labels have been edited lightly from the source for readability. This visualization is part of Visual Capitalist’s AI Week, sponsored by Terzo.

Here’s How Everyone is Using AI in 2025

People are using AI for support (both professional and personal) in 2025

In fact, the top three use cases (therapy, life organization, and finding purpose) all show that AI can assist humans in managing both emotions and their life.

2024	Use Case	Category	2025	Use Case	Category
1	Generate Ideas	Content Creation	1	Therapy & Companionship	Support
2	Therapy & Companionship	Support	2	Organize Life	Support
3	Specific Search	Research & Analysis	3	Find Purpose	Support
4	Edit text	Content Creation	4	Enhance Learning	Learning & Education
5	Explore Interests	Learning & Education	5	Generate Code	Technical Assistance
6	Fun & Nonsense	Creativity & Recreation	6	Generate Ideas	Content Creation
7	Troubleshoot	Technical Assistance	7	Fun & Nonsense	Creativity & Recreation
8	Enhance Learning	Learning & Education	8	Improve Code	Technical Assistance
9	Personalize Learning	Learning & Education	9	Creativity	Content Creation
10	General advice	Support	10	Healthy Living	Support
11	Draft emails	Content Creation	11	Interview Preparation	Learning & Education
12	Explainers	Learning & Education	12	Generate Images	Creativity & Recreation
13	Write & Edit Résumé	Support	13	Specific Search	Research & Analysis
14	Excel Formulas	Technical Assistance	14	Explainers	Learning & Education
15	Email Writing	Content Creation	15	Cooking Guidance	Creativity & Recreation
16	Evaluate Copy	Research & Analysis	16	Troubleshoot	Technical Assistance
17	Improve Decisions	Research & Analysis	17	Personalize Learning	Learning & Education
18	Translation	Technical Assistance	18	Boost Confidence	Support
19	Improve Code	Technical Assistance	19	Email Writing	Content Creation
20	Draft Document	Content Creation	20	Explain Legalese	Technical Assistance
21	Navigate Personal Disputes	Support	21	Child Entertainment	Creativity & Recreation
22	Summarize Content	Learning & Education	22	Corporate LLM	Support
23	Make a Complaint	Support	23	Student Essays	Learning & Education
24	Recommendations	Creativity & Recreation	24	Travel Itinerary	Support
25	Cooking Guidance	Creativity & Recreation	25	Childcare Help	Creativity & Recreation
26	Generate Appraisals	Content Creation	26	Medical Advice	Support
27	Creativity	Content Creation	27	Navigate Personal Disputes	Support
28	Medical Advice	Support	28	Generate Legal Document	Content Creation
29	Generate Legal Document	Content Creation	29	Conversations	Support
30	Fix Code	Technical Assistance	30	Anti-trolling	Content Creation

And aside from therapy, these were not the top uses in 2024: which revolved around idea generation and search.

Speaking of AI search, its popularity has fallen 10 spots. People are still interested in learning and making AI explain concepts or add context for them. But they’re not actively looking up information as much.

(This may also be because of Gemini’s integration in Google Search).

AI For Mental Health: Good or Bad?

With mental health support severely underfunded and the Loneliness Epidemic only continuing, it’s no surprise AI has emerged as a viable outlet for people to get some support in their life.

Experts say they can see its usefulness for teaching mindfulness or cognitive behavioral therapy to users.

However, the problem occurs when AI is used as a replacement for actual human relationships, preventing deeper human connections, in turn exacerbating loneliness.

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