Navigating the AI Paradox: Benefits and risks in modern life
Artificial Intelligence is now part of everyday life, reshaping how people work, shop and connect. To understand how South Africans are responding, infoQuest surveyed 300 consumers in September 2025, exploring their awareness, usage, and attitudes toward AI across demographics.
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Widespread familiarity: AI is now common knowledge
The majority of respondents claimed to have a high level of familiarity with AI. The largest portion, at 39%, considers themselves ‘very familiar’ with AI. Following that, 30% are ‘exceptionally familiar’.
When combined, these two categories account for nearly 70% of the respondents – indicating that AI is not a niche concept, but rather a widely understood topic.
The AI ecosystem: A market defined by widespread use and diverse tools
Results show a near-ubiquitous adoption of AI tools among the respondents, with 90% using AI tools.
In terms of the most popular AI platforms: ChatGPT is by far the most widely used tool, with an 88% usage rate. This reflects its status as a market leader and its high public profile. Meta AI and Gemini follow with significant usage rates of 79% and 51%, respectively.
This shows that the market is not a monopoly and that other major tech companies; tools have also gained substantial traction.
Other tools like Microsoft Copilot, Grammarly, and Deepseek show moderate usage, indicating a diverse ecosystem of AI applications.
The lower percentages for tools like Humanise, Jasper, Claude, and Perplexity suggest they serve more niche markets or are less well-known to the general population.
On from professional to personal: AI’s integration into daily life
AI tools are used frequently in both work and personal contexts. 56% percent and 53% percent respectively use AI at least once a day for personal and work-related tasks.
Optimism vs apprehension: The public’s conflicted view of AI
Respondents were generally optimistic about the societal and personal benefits of AI, but remain concerned about its potential risks, such as job elimination, bias, and the spread of misinformation.
- Convenience and societal impact:
A strong majority holds a positive view of AI’s broader effects. An overwhelming 76% agree that ‘AI will make my daily life easier and more convenient’. Additionally, 58% believe ‘AI will have a positive impact on society’.
This suggests a widespread belief that AI is a beneficial and progressive force.
- Risk and bias:
There is a significant level of concern regarding the ethical and practical risks of AI. A large majority of 61% agree that ‘AI can be used to spread misinformation or fake content’, and 58% are concerned about the use of their personal data.
Furthermore, 37% agree that ‘AI systems are more likely to be biased than humans’, with a substantial 35% remaining neutral on the topic.
- Job elimination and human intelligence:
The fear of AI’s negative impact on employment and human capability is evident. A majority of 63% are worried about AI’s potential to ‘eliminate jobs’, while only 30% believe it will create more jobs than it eliminates.
Additionally, a notable 65% are concerned that people will ‘become less intelligent due to using AI’.
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Despite the positive attitudes toward AI’s convenience, there is a lack of trust when it comes to critical decisions.
A significant 38% say they would not trust AI to make important decisions in their personal life, and another 25% are neutral – indicating widespread hesitation to delegate significant responsibilities to AI.
A double-edged tool: How users view the benefits and risks of AI
Consumers most value AI for its ability to streamline processes and make information more readily available, but have lower confidence in it being involved in high-risk tasks or improving healthcare.
Consumers’ primary concerns regarding AI are centred on its potential impact on human cognitive abilities, privacy, and social skills. The top ranked concern, held by 61% of respondents, is that ‘people will become less able to think for themselves’.
A matter of trust: Hesitation to delegate critical decisions to AI
Consumers are most comfortable with AI making decisions related to creative and less critical tasks, while there is a significant lack of trust for high-stakes, professional decisions.
60% are comfortable with AI making decisions about content creation, while only 24% are comfortable with medical diagnoses.
This clearly indicates that AI is viewed as a tool for creative assistance and support, but significantly less so as a reliable substitute for human expertise in fields requiring critical judgment and personal responsibility.
Some scepticism about AI’s accuracy and reliability
The majority of users do not consistently trust AI’s accuracy and reliability. A combined 78% of respondents ‘sometimes’, ‘often’, or ‘always’ question the accuracy of AI.
This shows that while people are widely using AI, they are not blindly accepting its output. Instead, a significant portion of users remain sceptical and actively verify the information provided by these tools.
A divided opinion on human-like AI
There is no consensus on how people feel about AI becoming more human-like in its interactions with opinions split.
This suggests that the public has not yet formed a clear opinion on the long-term goal of making AI more conversational and emotionally intelligent, indicating a mix of curiosity, apprehension, and indifference.
The price of progress: most people will pay for AI
Overall, the majority of consumers are open to paying for AI, with only 13% insisting on using only free options.
‘In our modern world, AI is no longer a futuristic concept but a part of our everyday lives,’ says Claire Heckrath, MD of infoQuest.
‘The majority of consumers are open to paying for AI, with only 13% insisting on using only free options. This shows that people recognise the value of these tools, even if they're not willing to spend heavily on them.’
While AI is widely embraced for things like content creation, a clear boundary remains when it comes to critical decisions.
As the infoQuest survey reveals, consumers are not yet ready to trust AI to handle medical diagnoses or financial planning. This is central to ‘The AI Paradox’ – we crave AI’s power but fear its perils. We value its convenience and potential to benefit society, yet remain wary of misinformation, job losses, and the risk of over-reliance.
Ultimately, we’re not using AI blindly. ‘The fact that 78% of users sometimes or always question its accuracy shows we remain sceptical and actively verify its output. We’re embracing AI as a powerful assistant, but holding on to our human judgment,’ says Heckrath.