What Germans Think About AI
In a recent AI study (November 2025), slightly more than 1,000 Germans were asked about artificial intelligence (AI), online security, deepfakes and democracy.
Overall, there is a strong increase in the uptake of AI in Germany. Roughly two out of three Germans use AI (65%) in one way or another. Given that ChatGPT started to appear in Germany around November 2022, the question “Have you already used AI?” shows a rapid rise.
About half a year after the launch of ChatGPT, 23% of Germans said “yes”. By October 2023, the number had increased to 37%; by October 2024, it was 53%; and by October 2025, it had reached 65%.
Meanwhile, slightly more men than women are using AI. However, AI use appears to be related to age more than to gender. In other words, younger Germans are using AI more than older Germans – no surprise here. To the question “Have you ever tried or used an AI application?”, 67% of men said yes, while 63% of women said that they had used AI.
The gap is vastly greater when it comes to age. In 2025, 91% of 16- to 29-year-olds said they had used AI. For the 30- to 49-year-old cohort, the number is still 80%, while for 50- to 64-year-old Germans, it drops to 63%. Once people are 65 and older, the use of AI declines to about 35%.
Meanwhile, almost every second individual uses AI several times a week. That was the answer to the question “How often do you use AI?” Twelve per-cent said daily, 33% said several times a week, and 36% said once or twice per month. Among younger Germans, these numbers – as expected – are higher. In total, 55% of all 16- to 29-year-olds use AI frequently.
When it comes to using AI at work or privately, a clear 1/3 to 2/3 gap emerges. In other words, 61% use AI for private purposes, while only 32% use AI for professional or work-related purposes, including school, education, and studying. AI is thus used more at home than outside the home in Germany.
When asked whether they use paid AI accounts, 88% said they do not use “paid-for” accounts in the private sphere. This number declines to 67% when it comes to work-related use.
Meanwhile, the mobile phone or smartphone has overtaken laptops. When asked which device or devices they use for AI, the smartphone is the preferred choice for 82%, while PCs or laptops are used by 71%. Devices such as smart speakers (e.g., Amazon’s Alexa) and smartwatches are used by a meager 4% each.
Beyond all this, ChatGPT dominates AI usage in Germany. Eighty-five percent use ChatGPT, followed by Gemini (33%), Copilot (26%), DeepL (20%), Meta AI (18%), Google AI (14%), Bing Search (10%), Canva AI (8%), Perplexity (7%), DeepSeek (4%), Claude AI (3%), Grok (3%), Le Chat (1%), and others (4%).
On the question “What is AI used for?”, 72% said they use AI when searching for information. Forty-three percent said they use AI to create or improve texts. Thirty-eight percent use AI for brainstorming and the development of ideas. Thirty-four percent use AI for translations. Sixteen percent use AI to create images, videos, or audio files. Eleven percent let AI perform calculations, while only 8% use AI to create websites or code. The same share (8%) applies to analyzing datasets.
On the question of why they are using AI, 61% said it helps them work more productively, and the same share applies to learning and education (61%). Fifty-four percent use AI to deal with routine tasks, 50% to develop new ideas, and 47% to be creative. Interestingly – and perhaps surprisingly – 43% of Germans use AI to solve personal problems. Thirty-two percent use it to better organize everyday life, and 29% use AI for fun and entertainment.
Regarding how people communicate with AI, 96% said they do so via text input. Voice-to-text input is used by 38%, while voice dialogue mode is used by 33%.
On the more noteworthy question of how Germans describe their emotional relationship with AI applications, most (80%) said that AI is simply a tool and that they do not have an emotional relationship with it. Germans do not seem to “love” these machines. Twenty-seven percent see AI as a smart coach who supports them in different situations, while only 6% see AI as a good friend to whom they entrust personal things. Notably, zero percent (0%) said they see AI as a permanent partner. It gets even better: nobody (0%) sees AI as someone for whom they feel romantic or emotionally close.
Yet when it comes to trustworthiness, Germans trust AI more than ever before. In 2024, 48% reported a high degree of trust in AI. By 2025, this number had increased to 53%. Still, 41% expressed rather low confidence in AI delivering trustworthy answers. Absolutely no trust in AI was expressed by 4% in 2025 (up from 2% in 2024).
While 45% – slightly less than half – of Germans trust AI only to a limited degree (41%) or not at all (4%), Germans are extremely unwilling to share personal and confidential data with AI. To the question “Have you ever entered personal or confidential data – such as your name, address, health data, or passwords – into an AI program?”, a reassuring 86% said “no”.
This reluctance increases with age. In the 16- to 29-year-old cohort, 78% said “no”, while 22% said “yes”. In the 30- to 49-year-old group, 85% said “no”. Among 50- to 64-year-olds, 92% said “no”, with the same applying to those over 65. In other words, Germany’s elderly are less likely to hand over sensitive data to AI, whether dodgy or not.
On the question “How big is your concern that the data you have entered into an AI application could be hacked, misused, or even published without your consent?”, 13% said they are very worried. Thirty-seven percent said they are somewhat worried, 43% said they are less worried, and only 4% said they are not worried at all.
On deepfakes and the question “Which of the following experiences have you already had in connection with AI?”, 51% said they had come across manipulated AI videos online showing real people. Thirty-one percent said they had received AI-generated phishing emails with deceptively realistic texts. Twenty-six percent said they had been called by automated AI voices imitating human conversations.
Another 26% agreed with the statement “I have the impression that frequent use of AI makes me think less”. In other words, AI-induced cognitive dulling – or “cognitive atrophy” – is not a figment of our imagination.
On the issue of AI-generated false images and the question “Have you ever fallen for AI-generated content such as texts, images, videos, or audio?”, 51% said yes. Twenty-six percent were surprised by how genuine the content appeared, while 25% said they noticed it very quickly. Thirty-two percent said they had never encountered this, and 16% said they were not sure.
With 51% saying “yes” and another 16% unsure – together 67%, or two-thirds of all Germans – it is reasonable to argue that this is a serious problem. The arrest of Donald Trump (wishful thinking), the pope’s puffer jacket (funny), and Cambridge Analytica’s (dangerous) manipulation of democracy have already shown this.
Fittingly, Germans are worried about the use of AI to manipulate democracy. Germans see democracy and the media as being under the influence of AI. When asked about the consequences of AI – such as ChatGPT – for Germany’s media system and democracy, Germans expressed deep concern.
To the question “To what extent do you agree with the following statements?”, a whopping 91% said that AI makes it harder to distinguish between real and manipulated content. Simultaneously, 83% believe AI will massively accelerate the spread of accidental misinformation and deliberate disinformation.
Seventy-three percent are convinced that AI negatively influences political opinion formation, while roughly half of all Germans (49%) think AI is a threat to democracy.
Many Germans are also worried about the “incalculable” risks of AI. To the question “How much do you agree with the following statements about possible opportunities and risks of generative AI?”, a staggering 97% said there are unpredictable risks associated with AI technology.
Worse, a clear majority of almost 60% think they will lose their jobs as a result of AI. At the same time, 32% worry about losing out in AI competence. And just when one might think it cannot get worse, about half of all Germans (49%) are convinced that humanity will lose control over AI technology.
Set against this is the conviction that AI needs regulation. Germans clearly do not believe in the neoliberal myth that “the free market will fix it”. To the question on European regulation of AI, a massive 83% said regulation is necessary to responsibly manage AI development and use.
Sixty-two percent said regulation makes them feel better protected from AI-related risks, and 47% believe regulation will promote innovation in Europe by creating clear rules and standards.
Meanwhile, 33% believe regulation will slow technological development, while 28% think it will help Europe gain competitiveness compared to the USA and China. Interestingly, 17% agreed that AI should be banned altogether.
While a ban is rather unlikely, regulation – most likely at the European level – has already occurred with the EU AI Act of August 2024.
On the question of how important specific measures are to ensure AI safety and ethical standards, a reassuring 89% said it should be mandatory for manufacturers and suppliers to indicate when AI is used in a product or application. Eighty percent said there should be mandatory safety and quality testing of AI systems by independent organizations. In other words, Germans do not want a mirage of so-called “industry self-regulation”.
They want independent oversight and appear not to trust Big Tech – the profit-driven and monopolistic GAFAM corporations (Google/Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook/Meta, Apple, and Microsoft) and their BATX counterparts (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, and Xiaomi). Among them, the “four headless horsemen of the apocalypse” – Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Meta—run the show.
In the end, Germans show a hefty dose of distrust toward Big Tech and its often-promoted notion of “industry self-regulation”. Al Capone should not make gun laws. Perhaps there are good reasons why ordinary cars require regular technical inspections rather than relying on owner self-regulation. Perhaps large profit-driven corporations should be trusted even less.
Beyond that, Germans are using AI – and usage is growing. With ChatGPT dominating, Germans shifted AI use from laptops to smartphones between 2024 and 2025, with 72% using AI primarily to search for information. Meanwhile, a comforting 80% see AI as a tool, and 0% see it as a romantic partner. AI is a machine, not a girlfriend.
This is further substantiated by the fact that roughly half of Germans believe AI could be hacked and that their data are not secure. Virtually the same number have encountered fake material online, while 91% believe AI will make it harder to distinguish between what is real and what is fake.
Most troubling, however, is that 73% believe AI will negatively influence political opinion formation. Worse still, about half of all Germans think AI poses a danger to democracy.
