How AI is really used
Want to know how AI is really used?
Anthropic, an AI startup, just launched the Anthropic Economic Index, which provides direct data and analysis based on millions of anonymized conversations on Claude.ai. It shows how AI is incorporated into real-world tasks across the modern economy.
One of the main findings from the report was around augmentation vs. automation.
Today, AI users employ the technology more as a collaborator than an autonomous helper—57% of tasks were dedicated to augmentation vs. 43% for automation. I expect this to flip soon as OpenAI, Anthropic, and other AI companies introduce more powerful agents capable of working independently.
Another key finding from the report was about where and how AI is used across the economy.
Most queries to Claude came from the “Computer & Mathematical” category, making up 37.2% and focusing on tasks like software changes and debugging. The second most common category was “Arts & Media” (10.3%), mainly for writing and editing. Jobs requiring physical labor, like “farming, fishing, and forestry,” were the least represented at just 0.1%.
No jobs in the dataset were fully automated, but about 36% of occupations already use AI for at least 25% of their tasks. Anthropic’s data signals significant changes ahead and the need for policies to manage the impact on jobs and the economy.
