ArticlePloS one2025
Characteristics of ChatGPT users from Germany: Implications for the digital divide from web tracking data.
Article in PloS one, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Factors Associated with AI Use in a Norwegian Sample.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Acceptance of Medical History-Taking Supported by Artificial Intelligence and Chatbots: A Population-Based Survey in Germany.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Users' prompting strategies and ChatGPT's contextual adaptation shape conversational information-seeking experiences.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Attitudes toward large language model-based Artificial Intelligence systems as an information source for shared decision-making in radiation oncology.The oncologist · 2026Article
- The paradox of agency in psychotherapy: How people with mental distress experience support from generative AI chatbots and human therapists.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Relationships between ChatGPT use with self-directed learning and critical thinking among school and university nurses in Taiwan.BMC nursing · 2025Article
- Shaping the future of medical education: A cross-sectional study on ChatGPT attitude and usage among medical students in Sudan.PloS one · 2025Article
- Variability of a job search indicator induced by operationalization decisions when using digital traces from a meter.PloS one · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
A major challenge of our time is reducing disparities in access to and effective use of digital technologies, with recent discussions highlighting the role of AI in exacerbating the digital divide. We examine user characteristics that predict usage of the AI-powered conversational agent ChatGPT. We combine behavioral and survey data in a web tracked sample of N = 1376 German citizens to investigate differences in ChatGPT activity (usage, visits, and adoption) during the first 11 months from the launch of the service (November 30, 2022). Guided by a model of technology acceptance (UTAUT-2), we examine the role of socio-demographics commonly associated with the digital divide in ChatGPT activity and explore further socio-political attributes identified via stability selection in Lasso regressions. We confirm that lower age and higher education affect ChatGPT usage, but do not find that gender or income do. We find full-time employment and more children to be barriers to ChatGPT activity. Using a variety of social media was positively associated with ChatGPT activity. In terms of political variables, political knowledge and political self-efficacy as well as some political behaviors such as voting, debating political issues online and offline and political action online were all associated with ChatGPT activity, with online political debating and political self-efficacy negatively so. Finally, need for cognition and communication skills such as writing, attending meetings, or giving presentations, were also associated with ChatGPT engagement, though chairing/organizing meetings was negatively associated. Our research informs efforts to address digital disparities and promote digital literacy among underserved populations by presenting implications, recommendations, and discussions on ethical and social issues of our findings.
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Registered trials
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