Abstract
The digital divide describes disparities in access to and usage of digital tooling between social and economic groups. Emerging generative artificial intelligence tools, which strongly affect productivity, could magnify the impact of these divides. However, the affordability, multi-modality, and multilingual capabilities of these tools could also make them more accessible to diverse users in comparison with previous forms of digital tooling. In this study, we characterize spatial differences in U.S. residents' knowledge of a new generative AI tool, ChatGPT, through an analysis of state- and county-level search query data. In the first six months after the tool's release, we observe the highest rates of users searching for ChatGPT in West Coast states and persistently low rates of search in Appalachian and Gulf states. Counties with the highest rates of search are relatively more urbanized and have proportionally more educated, more economically advantaged, and more Asian residents in comparison with other counties or with the U.S. average. In multilevel models adjusting for socioeconomic and demographic factors as well as industry makeup, education is the strongest positive predictor of rates of search for generative AI tooling. Although generative AI technologies may be novel, early differences in uptake appear to be following familiar paths of digital marginalization.
Abstract (translated)
数字鸿沟描述了社会和经济群体之间访问和使用数字工具的差异。新兴的生成人工智能工具,这些工具对生产力产生严重影响,可能夸大这些差异的影响。然而,这些工具的易用性、多模态和多语言功能,也可能使它们比以往数字工具更具吸引力,使其对不同用户更具吸引力。在本研究中,我们通过分析州和县一级的搜索查询数据,对美国居民对新型生成人工智能工具ChatGPT的空间差异进行刻画。在工具发布后的前六个月内,我们在西海岸州观察到用户搜索ChatGPT的率最高,而阿巴拉契亚和阿拉巴马州持续较低。搜索率最高的是相对较发达的县,与其他县或美国平均水平相比,这些县更有利于教育、经济优势和亚洲居民。在考虑社会经济和人口因素以及行业组成的多层模型中,教育是对生成人工智能工具搜索率的最强积极预测因素。尽管生成人工智能技术可能新颖,但早期采用差异似乎正在沿着数字边缘化的熟悉路径发展。
URL
https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.11988
