Young people use AI to inform themselves and X resists despite criticism
The temptation to use chatbots like ChatGPT to get information is one of the growing trends among young people, while X, criticized as a transmission belt for extremism, resists as a vector of information, according to experts.
“AI conversational bots are being used for the first time as a source of information,” summarizes Mitali Mukherjee, director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, at the beginning of her 2025 report on digital information.
The study is based on online surveys carried out by the company YouGov with 97,000 people in 48 countries, including Argentina, Brazil and Colombia.
So far, the number of global respondents who say they use AI every week to get information is “relatively low” (7%), the report highlights.
But this proportion is “higher” among younger people: it rises to 12% among those under 35 and 15% among those under 25.
ChatGPT is also used as an interlocutor or even a “confident” person by people who feel the need to communicate with their “chatbot” on personal or even intimate matters.
Thus, a quarter (26%) of French people declared that they would use Artificial Intelligence in their private lives in 2024, an increase of ten points in one year, according to the Digital Barometer published annually.
The report by the Reuters Institute, linked to the British University of Oxford, is considered a reference on the subject.
ChatGPT (from the American company OpenAI) is the most used as a source of information, followed by Google's Gemini and Meta's Llama, experts note.
Furthermore, respondents find these tools interesting for personalizing information and better adapting it to their needs as users.
This involves, for example, summarizing articles to be able to read them more quickly (27% of respondents), translating them into other languages (24%), making recommendations (21%) and even answering questions about current affairs (18%).
However, despite this emerging use, respondents in most countries “remain skeptical about the use of AI in information and prefer that humans continue to play a role.”
Respondents fear that information produced primarily by AI will be “less transparent” and “less trustworthy.”
AI models feed on data they find on the Internet, including press content, with the aim of being able to generate texts or images from a simple request formulated in natural language by their users.
In order to make a profit, some outlets have chosen to reach agreements with AI actors. However, others have taken legal action for copyright infringement.
This panorama is combined with the low credibility of traditional media, according to other research.
“This change has allowed politicians like Donald Trump in the United States and Javier Milei in Argentina to bypass traditional media,” the text warns.
Likewise, X, in the hands of billionaire Elon Musk, continues to be the great platform for global public debate, despite criticism from traditional media outlets and some announcements by organizations, public figures or companies that have abruptly abandoned the forum.
“It is surprising to note that X’s ability to reach the public in the information sphere has not diminished (…), despite the exodus of left-wing users and journalists, including some recognized outlets,” writes the Reuters Institute.
Of those interviewed, 11% said they had used X to obtain information in the week prior to the survey, a proportion identical to that of previous years. The network is behind Facebook (26%), YouTube (21%), Instagram (16%, the only one that increased) and WhatsApp (15%).
Presented as an alternative to X, the Bluesky, Threads and Mastodon networks “have little impact” in the information sphere and are only mentioned by a maximum of 2% of those interviewed.
The use of X to obtain information has even increased in the United States (23% of respondents, +8 points compared to 2024).
By leaving the debate arena, left-wing opponents or critics of Musk have allowed conservative sectors to gain ground, the text explains.
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