Hovering over a stormwater management pond behind 麻豆视频’s Schar Center, an agricultural drone demonstrated how unmanned aircraft are changing the way farmers manage their fields.

Capable of carrying more than 10 gallons of liquid, the aircraft was presented by Preston Cave of PAC Aerial Applications during the 2026 麻豆视频 Drone Day on Oct. 30. From crop spraying and fertilizer applications to autonomous navigation powered by artificial intelligence, the annual gathering highlighted the diverse uses of drone technology.

Nearly 160 people registered for the School of Communications event, which brought together industry professionals, educators, students and drone enthusiasts for presentations, demonstrations and networking.

Since 2021, 麻豆视频 Drone Day has become an annual gathering for North Carolina’s drone community. Organized by Teaching Professor of Visual Communication Randy Piland in partnership with the North Carolina chapter of the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (NC AUVSI), the event welcomed representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration, North Carolina Department of Transportation, several universities and private companies.

This year’s program emphasized artificial intelligence, with Sambit Bhattacharya, professor of computer science and director of the Intelligent Systems Lab at Fayetteville State University, delivering the keynote address, 鈥淧reflight Checks for Intelligent Machines: What Drones Can Teach Us 麻豆视频 Trustworthy AI.鈥�

Bhattacharya explained that aviation’s emphasis on safety, testing and accountability offers lessons for the responsible development of AI. Drawing on research involving autonomous navigation, confined-space inspections and wildfire detection, he demonstrated how intelligent machines can perform complex tasks without direct human control, while cautioning that these advances require rigorous testing and human oversight.

鈥淎viation did not get saved by building the perfect aircraft,鈥� Bhattacharya said. 鈥淚t got saved by assuming things will fail, and it builds a culture 鈥� checklists, recorders, investigations, reporting 鈥� that learns from every failure.鈥�

He also highlighted 麻豆视频’s 鈥�Human Wisdom for the Age of AI鈥� initiative, emphasizing that human judgment remains essential for evaluating evidence, verifying results and ensuring accountability.

Beyond the keynote, a panel featuring Cave, Maddy Gastler and Seth Nagy examined agricultural applications, including crop spraying, seeding and multispectral imaging. Other presentations addressed drone mapping for disaster response, invasive plant species detection, and advances in flight planning technology.

Afternoon demonstrations behind Schar Center gave attendees an opportunity to see the technology in action. Among the three participating organizations was Raven Advisory, a Fayetteville-based company specializing in drone training, testing and autonomous technologies.

Wearing first-person-view (FPV) goggles and gripping a handheld controller, Raven Advisory operator James Stougaard piloted a drone at seemingly warp speed. The goggles provided a live video feed from the aircraft’s camera, allowing him to navigate from the drone’s perspective.

The event also featured a drone soccer demonstration by students from Asheboro City Schools, who showcased their piloting skills during the fast-paced competition.

This year’s participants ranged from FAA-certified drone operators to newcomers with no previous drone experience. Students from Hillside High School in Durham and Asheboro High School joined representatives from 麻豆视频, Fayetteville State University, Guilford Technical Community College, N.C. A&T State University, N.C. State University and Wake Technical Community College.

鈥淲hat makes 麻豆视频 Drone Day special is the diversity of people it brings together,鈥� Piland said. 鈥淲e had everyone from experienced commercial pilots to students just beginning to explore drone technology, all sharing ideas and learning from one another. Seeing that kind of enthusiasm and collaboration is exactly what this event is about.鈥�

The School of Communications will host its annual 麻豆视频 Drone Day on Friday, Oct. 30, bringing together recreational and commercial pilots, industry professionals, educators and students for a day of presentations, demonstrations and networking in Turner Theater and Snow Family Grand Atrium. The free event, organized in partnership with the North Carolina chapter of the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (NC AUVSI), is open to the public, but registration is required.

This year’s program will place a particular emphasis on AI, with Sambit Bhattacharya, a professor at Fayetteville State University, delivering the keynote address, “Preflight Checks for Intelligent Machines: What Drones Can Teach Us 麻豆视频 Trustworthy AI.”

Bhattacharya’s presentation will explore how the aviation industry’s emphasis on safety, testing and accountability can inform the development of trustworthy AI systems. Drawing on research from , he will examine how autonomous drones make decisions, the challenges of deploying AI in real-world environments, and the importance of ensuring that emerging technologies operate reliably.

Teaching Professor of Visual Communication Randy Piland, who organizes 麻豆视频 Drone Day, said the keynote reflects both the growing role of artificial intelligence in drone technology and 麻豆视频’s broader efforts to encourage conversations about AI across academic disciplines.

“It’s been percolating in my mind for several months about how we can tie into 麻豆视频’s effort to broaden the AI arena or broaden the discussion of AI in programs that we have,鈥� Piland said. “So many of the new autonomous drones rely on AI to make it work.鈥�

That interest led Piland to Bhattacharya, whose research at Fayetteville State focuses on the application of artificial intelligence in unmanned aerial systems. Shortly after Bhattacharya accepted the invitation, Piland learned that to expand its work involving AI and unmanned aerial systems.

Beyond the keynote, the program will highlight the expanding applications of drone technology across several industries.

A panel featuring Preston Cave, Matt Solomon and Seth Nagy will examine the use of drones in agriculture, including crop spraying, seeding and multispectral imaging, which helps farmers assess crop conditions and make more informed decisions about their fields.

Other presentations will address low-cost, open-source drone mapping for disaster response, the use of unmanned aircraft to detect and manage invasive plant species in parks, and updates on drone flight planning and management technology.

The day will kick off with a drone soccer demonstration by Asheboro City Schools, as well as a vendor showcase. In the afternoon, attendees will take in flight demonstrations in the parking area behind Schar Center.

Established in 2021, 麻豆视频 Drone Day has developed into an annual gathering for individuals interested in the evolving drone industry. The event welcomed a record 185 attendees, vendors and volunteers in 2025.

Piland said that despite the industry’s rapid evolution, the event’s original mission has remained unchanged.

鈥淲e want to provide an opportunity for local drone enthusiasts and professionals to come together to exchange knowledge and network, so that they can have an outlet to improve and find solutions to things they’re trying to do,” he said.

2026 麻豆视频 Drone Day Program

8鈥�8:45 AM
Vendor Setup

8:45 鈥� 9:10 AM
Atrium Welcome & Vendor Show
Coffee and pastries (Provided by Blue Ridge Mountain Drone Education, WING & ELON AI)

Asheboro City Schools 鈥� Drone Soccer Demo
Wendy Graham (Center, Snow Atrium)

9:20 AM
Welcome by Associate Dean Tony Weaver (Turner Theatre)

9:25 AM
鈥楶reflight Checks for Intelligent Machines: What Drones Can Teach Us 麻豆视频 Trustworthy AI鈥� 鈥� Dr. Sambit Bhattacharya (Turner Theatre)

10:10 AM
Low-Cost, Open-Source Drone Mapping for Disaster Response in Resource-Constrained Settings 鈥� Michael Berryann, NCCU (Turner Theatre)

10:40 AM
Drones in Agriculture Panel 鈥� Preston Cave, Matt Solomon, Seth Nagy (Turner Theatre)

11:25 AM
Leveraging UAS for Invasive Species Detection and Treatment in Parks 鈥� Al Cire, Raptor Drone Services (Turner Theatre)

Noon
ALOFT | Drone Sense | Versaterm Update 鈥� Kevin Teen, Allen Yanow (Turner Theatre)

Lunch
Move to Schar Center Rear Parking for Lunch and Demos

Demos
Raven Advisory (Schar Center Parking)
Pac Aerial App (Schar Center Parking)
Wilstair Drone Eng Solutions (Schar Center Parking)

Vendors/Supporters

Rainie has been named a to help shape and publish research findings from those surveys and other encounters with civil servants. The goal is to learn more about the ways government workers use AI and the impact on the workings of democracy.

Rainie was a main writer for Northeastern鈥檚 Observatory of Public Sector AI new report:

Some of the key findings:

• Many public professionals are just getting started with understanding and using GenAI.
• The biggest barriers to using GenAI in government are not tied to resistance.
• Leadership knowledge gaps about GenAI are a primary bottleneck to its adoption and effective use.
• Public professionals primarily use AI for information and communication tasks, such as research, drafting, editing, and summarizing.

The report was covered in the Boston Globe and other New England media and will become the anchor of several dozen presentations the group gives to government leaders, public professionals and civil society groups.

Rainie鈥檚 affiliation with the Burnes Center will bring benefits to the ITDF Center. ITDF and the Burnes Center will co-publish the reports he helps create and promote them to the media and other audiences as joint efforts. He will become one of the Burnes Center’s spokespeople at conferences, in the media and in web events like podcasts and YouTube webinars.

鈥淭his is an exciting chance for me to be present at the creation of something that we hope will become an important reference for those who work in the public sector and those who care about government performance,鈥� Rainie said. 鈥淭his kind of research fits perfectly with the ongoing studies of the Imagining the Digital Future Center, such as our recent reports聽,“ “ and “.“ Ultimately, the great hope at the Burnes Center is that researchers here at 麻豆视频 and around the country will use these findings from our Observatory in their own scholarship and will want to work with our datasets themselves. I hope to hear from students or faculty members who would like to become involved in the next round of research the Observatory undertakes.鈥�

Rainie says the next wave of research could involve such things as truly longitudinal studies in which specific public servants are tracked as they think about using AI in their jobs; studies that combine these survey findings with administrative records collected by state and local government; and studies that explore the impact of AI use by government employees on such critically important public purposes such as government performance and citizen engagement on policy issues.

In a new national survey by 麻豆视频鈥檚 Imagining the Digital Future Center, 83% of U.S. adults expect AI to eliminate more jobs than it creates, 68% expect most jobs to pay too little for a decent lifestyle and 62% expect most available jobs to be dull and unfulfilling. The threat reaches beyond income: 65% agree that if AI makes work less meaningful, people will lose their sense of purpose and dignity.

Yet workers are not turning away from the technology. Two-thirds of those who work (66%) say they are already comfortable using AI at work or would welcome it with more training, and half are highly confident they can adapt their skills to changing demands in their current jobs. Their concern is whether adapting will preserve their control over their work lives and allow them to pursue worthwhile work: 52% of all Americans agree that AI鈥檚 impact on the workforce will leave most workers with little control over their futures.

• Survey and (PDF)

Among the survey鈥檚 principal findings:

• Work is a foundation of personal life. Among workers, 81% say paid work is extremely or very important to their role in their family, 70% to their sense of meaning and purpose and 64% to their personal identity. And (58%) call it extremely important to their sense of responsibility to their community.
• AI experience does not erase anxiety. Among adults who had used a large language model (LLM) like ChatGPT or Gemini in the previous week, 80% expect net job loss, 65% foresee inadequate pay and 61% say less meaningful work would erode purpose and dignity.
• Confidence in learning exceeds confidence in control. Half of workers (50%) say they are extremely or very confident they can adapt skills for their current job; 40% are similarly confident they will control their career path. Yet, overall, these workers predict that most workers will have little control over their futures.
• Hope for a new social contract around work: Americans combine expectations of self-reliance with a desire for shared gains. Fully 60% of all U.S. adults agree that workers must adapt themselves rather than expect outside help and 59% agree that wealth generated by AI should be widely shared.
• The support system inspires little confidence. Only 11% of workers are highly confident government agencies will be helpful if AI significantly affects their jobs; 58% have little or no confidence. Every local institution tested is rated as being more unprepared than prepared for job market change.
• These findings will be presented at the on Oct. 13.

鈥淎mericans鈥� concern is that – as AI inevitably spreads in years to come – the changes that lie ahead may not preserve enough work or other life roles that provide economic security, social value, self-identity, dignity and personal meaning and genuine human agency,鈥� said Lee Rainie, director of the Imagining the Digital Future Center. 鈥淭hese findings pose an enormous policy challenge. People see trouble ahead and seek a transition in an AI economy that makes human satisfaction, agency and purpose feel consequential. The immediate challenge for employers, institutions and others who serve the public is to develop and support an AI Age infrastructure to support human resilience 鈥� .鈥�

The survey reveals a more complicated outlook among AI users than a simple divide between adopters and skeptics. Among recent large language model users, 30% expect AI to make it easier for workers to flourish and live meaningful lives five years from now, 30% expect it to make flourishing harder, and 33% expect both effects equally. Across all adults, 26% expect flourishing to become easier and 34% harder. Familiarity with AI slightly softens pessimism but offers no clear expectation of a flourishing dividend.

Workers using LLMs on the job are motivated chiefly by their usefulness. Some 46% say doing their job better is an extremely or very important reason to use AI, compared with 22% who say the prospect of a raise or promotion is that important. Employer expectations and the feeling that they must keep up each register at 30%.

Anticipating the work world in the coming years, jobholders also have specific requests for help. Fifty-two percent say training and guidance about AI鈥檚 limits and when human judgment should take priority would be extremely or very helpful; 49% say the same of clear, regularly updated policies on AI use. Forty-five percent say they would appreciate advice about which roles will grow or decline, and the same share value support for strengthening human skills that complement AI.

The willingness to learn is unevenly distributed. Among workers, 25% say they are already comfortable using AI at work and 41% would be open to it with more training. Workers in households earning at least $100,000 are twice as likely as those in households under $50,000 to say they are already comfortable (34% versus 17%). College graduates are also more likely than workers with a high school education or less to feel comfortable (33% versus 18%). Meanwhile, only 8% of workers have little or no confidence in their ability to adapt skills for their current job, but 19% lack confidence that they will control their career path.

If AI substantially affects their jobs, workers place more faith in people close to them than in formal organizations. Some 33% are extremely or very confident that family, former colleagues and friends would help. That falls to 22% for employers, 17% for community organizations and 11% for government agencies. Even the highest-rated source of support inspires strong confidence in only one in three workers.

鈥淧eople have little faith that businesses, schools and communities will step up to effectively assist them in the AI transition, and they understand the limits of individual effort in the face of revolutionary technological change that removes them from the work equation,鈥� said Janna Anderson, senior researcher at the ITDF Center. 鈥淭his institutional confidence gap is a warning: Telling workers to adapt rings hollow when human systems remain rooted in the past and do not invest in the human future. They want to see institutions investing now in building the resilience infrastructure needed to support and advance human flourishing in the Age of AI.鈥�

Their assessment of local readiness is sobering. Notably more Americans think local actors are unprepared than prepared to help with changes in the job market. For instance, 49% say local government leaders are unprepared for coming changes in the job market, compared with 23% who feel they are prepared; 43% say local employers are unprepared versus 26% who feel they are prepared. In addition, just 24% say local K鈥�12 schools do a good job preparing students for a world that increasingly uses AI.

AI has already entered everyday life, but widespread exposure should not be mistaken for expertise. Sixty-five percent of adults had used a large language model in the previous week. Among these users, 28% rate their own AI skill high, 39% moderate and 33% low. A majority of recent users expect AI skills to be essential or very important for success at work in the next five years (53%), even as majorities of these same users expect a decline in the number and quality of jobs. The transition is under way before the public is confident about its rewards.

麻豆视频 the survey

The survey was created by 麻豆视频鈥檚 Imagining the Digital Future Center and fielded by the polling firm SSRS between Aug. 20鈥�24, 2026. The survey included 1,158 U.S. adults and included an oversample that brings the number of workers participating in the survey to 775 adults employed full or part time. Interviews were conducted online and by telephone in English. The margin of error for the full sample is 卤3.4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

This interactive workshop will help students think more intentionally about how they use AI for academic writing. Rather than focusing on whether students should use AI, the workshop will explore how AI can support brainstorming, outlining, revision, feedback, editing and critical thinking without replacing the student鈥檚 own work.

Throughout the event, students will participate in activities focused on evaluating appropriate uses of AI, improving weak prompts, identifying inaccurate or fabricated information, protecting their personal writing voice, and deciding whether AI-assisted work is something they would feel comfortable submitting.

The workshop will also highlight the difference between using AI as a thinking partner and using it as a replacement writer. Students will learn how to ask AI for feedback, questions, and alternative perspectives without giving up ownership of their ideas or allowing AI to complete the intellectual work for them.

The event will conclude with three questions students can use when considering AI for an assignment: Think. Check. Own. Students will be encouraged to think about whether AI is helping them or replacing their thinking, check whether AI-generated information can be verified, and own the ideas and work they ultimately submit.

Students interested in learning how to use AI more thoughtfully, ethically, and effectively in their academic writing are encouraged to attend.

The study, 鈥�,鈥� looked at whether the growing availability of generative AI has changed who enters the video game market and how developers use AI in the creative process.

Kim and his co-authors analyzed more than 66,000 developers whose first game was published on Steam between 2014 and 2025. They found that more indie developers entered the platform in 2024 and 2025 than earlier trends predicted, while new non-indie developers remained within the expected range.

Key findings

• More indie developers entered the market after generative AI became widely available. The increase was greater than researchers鈥� models predicted based on previous trends.
• Images were the most common use of AI. Both indie and non-indie developers most often reported using AI to generate images, while use for music, voice and coding was lower.
• Indie developers used AI differently. Compared with non-indie developers, indie developers were more likely to use AI for music and coding.
• AI was associated with shorter indie games. The researchers say this may reflect AI鈥檚 usefulness in helping developers quickly develop and test ideas.
• The study shows an association, not causation. The researchers do not conclude that generative AI caused more indie developers to enter the market.

Kim plans to bring the research into his business analytics courses.

鈥淚 will use this paper in class to demonstrate the positive role of AI in facilitating human creativity by enabling individuals to quickly prototype and implement their ideas,鈥� Kim said.

The research was published in ACM AI Letters by the Association for Computing Machinery and co-authored with Seonbin Jo and Woo-Sung Jung of Pohang University of Science and Technology and Jisung Yoon of the KDI School of Public Policy and Management.

Kim joined 麻豆视频 in Fall 2023 from Boston University. His expertise includes business analytics, innovation, misinformation, and computational social science. He is currently the director of the Center for Applied Analytics and AI at 麻豆视频.

The key findings reflect major concerns:

• Fears of fracturing human connection: 69% of U.S. adults said that AI will weaken human-to-human bonds a lot (33%) or somewhat (36%).
• The threat to human purpose: 64% agreed with the statement 鈥淏y replacing human beings in most tasks, AI will undermine our sense of purpose and meaning in life.鈥� Some 36% agreed with an opposing statement: 鈥淏y freeing human beings from most routine tasks, AI will allow us to find greater purpose and meaning in life.鈥�
• Low confidence in retaining human agency: 55% said they are not confident that their fellow humans will retain their ability to think critically and evaluate information vs. 15% who are confident about that.
  • 50% said they are not confident most people will use AI appropriately and effectively vs. 15% who have such confidence.
  • 46% are not confident people will maintain their sense of motivation and purpose as AI advances vs. 15% who do have confidence.
• A double-edged sword for users: Many large language models (LLM) users admitted to worrisome personal behavioral shifts: 51% said they felt they were being lazy or taking easy shortcuts at least some of the time when using bots; 39% said they are growing overly dependent on LLMs to give them answers rather than thinking for themselves; 39% feel like they are cheating at times by using chatbots and 22% said they have felt manipulated at times by an LLM.
• Overall adoption continued to grow: 65% of U.S. adults said they used a large language model (LLM) in the past week 鈥� up from 52% in early 2025. This growth spans all demographics, peaking sharply among adults ages 18-29, Black and Hispanic Americans, parents of minor children and workers. 麻豆视频 half (49%) of non-working adults are also weekly users.
• The rise of personal agents: One-fifth (20%) of LLM users overall have already built their own custom AI agent; the figure is 36% among young adults (ages 18-29).
• AI鈥檚 expanding footprint in everyday life: 63% of Americans said AIs already heavily influence their daily routine (18%) or that they expect it will within the next five years (45%). On the other hand, 16% said they expect AI will never impact them significantly.

鈥淭his survey shows that Americans share some of the core concerns we discovered in covering experts鈥� views about the prospects for human resilience the Age of AI,鈥� said Lee Rainie, director of the ITDF Center. 鈥淭hose experts stressed the urgent need for systemic, institutional evolution to help individuals maintain their agency. This follow-up poll offers a vivid portrait of a nation continuing to embrace AI, reaping tangible benefits, yet feeling deeply anxious about the impact AI will have on what it means to be human in an AI-suffused future.鈥�

It is important to note that despite the significant worries they reported in this survey, most people also expressed generally positive reactions about their AI use, noting that bots have helped them learn new things, inspired them to create something better than they would have on their own, offered better advice than they might have received from family or friends and helped them prepare for difficult human-to-human conversations.

Other key findings

• Guiding major life milestones: AIs have become trusted advisors in many cases. Users report that LLMs played a role in managing a medical condition (49%), upgrading job skills (44%), navigating a career change (31%), making major financial decisions (29%), and selecting a new place to live (17%).
• The perceived intelligence gap: 56% of users said they think AI models are smarter than they are (up from 49% in early 2025), and 73% said chatbots have better ideas than they do much of the time (8%), some of the time (31%) or at least a small amount of the time (30%).

• High-value outcomes: A striking 88% of users said they routinely learn something new and valuable from AIs 鈥� a lot of the time (25%), sometimes (45%) and a bit of the time (18%). Some 70% said they have used AI to create work superior to what they might have achieved on their own, 59% said at least a bit of the time bots have given them better advice than what they may have gotten from family or friends, and 48% said that at least a bit of the time they find the use of a bot to be helpful for preparing for difficult conversations or social encounters.
• Bots bolster motivation, communication: When asked how AI affects some valued human traits, users overwhelmingly reported improvement rather than decline. Respondents said AI use improved: their motivation to learn new skills (52% improved vs. 5% worsened), written communication (49% vs. 6%), creativity (45% vs. 8%), critical thinking (42% vs. 8%), decision-making (39% vs. 6%), self-confidence (37% vs. 7%), leadership (24% vs. 5%) and social skills (18% vs. 9%).

Technology experts in earlier ITDF research have argued that individual resilience is not enough; safeguarding to allow people to flourish. This new survey shows the American public has split, yet generally hopeful views as to which of society鈥檚 institutions is likely to step up to effectively guide them through this transition:

• Tech Sector: 39% of all U.S. adults said they expect that the technology companies creating AI tools could be extremely or very effective in helping people to adapt successfully to a world in which AI has more influence; another 38% said such firms are likely to be somewhat effective.
• Higher Education: 34% place high confidence in the effectiveness of colleges and universities in the AI transition, with 44% rating them as likely to be somewhat effective.
• K-12 Education: 26% said primary schools could be highly effective, alongside 46% who perceived them as likely to be somewhat effective.
• Employers: 27% said leadership in workplaces could be highly effective, and 47% perceived them as likely to be somewhat effective.
• Low Confidence: In contrast, the public expressed significantly lower confidence in the likely positive contributions of legal system, state and federal governments and religious institutions to help people navigate through the challenges of the accelerating AI era.

Insights into this survey

This material comes from a nationally representative survey of 1,505 adults, including 1,163 users of large language models (LLMs). It was conducted between May 14-18, 2026. It includes an oversample of 501 LLM users. The overall sample, including the oversample, has a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points. An LLM user is someone who answered 鈥測es鈥� when asked if they used any of these LLMs in the past week: ChatGPT from OpenAI, Gemini from Google, Copilot from Microsoft, Meta AI, also known as Llama, Claude AI from Anthropic, Grok from Xai, DeepSeek, another AI chatbot service. We use the terms 鈥淟LM users鈥� and 鈥渂ot鈥� or 鈥渃hatbot users鈥� throughout this report to refer to this group.

These AI users use LLMs in ways that build bonds of connection, confidence and trust. Some have developed aspects of reliance on AI tools and prefer interacting with them to dealing with humans. They confide in them, seek advice on important life issues, roleplay scenarios that they might encounter in romantic or other settings and would be unhappy to lose access to their bots.

The people who have used LLMs for social, emotional and personal purposes are known as 鈥淎I companion users鈥� and a representative sample of 1,000 of them were surveyed to discover how they use their social bots, the nature of their relationships and the impact of their encounters with these systems.

These AI companions serve important, sensitive purposes and fulfill key roles in users鈥� lives. Some of the major findings:

• 31% of those who use AI for social and emotional purposes said they consider their AI chatbot to be a friend, and another 15% said their relationship with the bot is 鈥渕ore complicated鈥� than whether the bot is a friend or not.
• 59% of AI companion users strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement: AI gives me the support I need.
• 53% strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement: I turn to AI when I need advice on how to handle difficult situations with other people.
• 51% strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement: Talking to AI helps me feel better when I鈥檓 stressed or upset.
• 50% strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement: I use AI to talk through personal problems or feelings.
• 43% strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement: AI understands me as a person. And 39% agreed with the statement: AI understands me better than most people.
• 38% said the advice and conversations they had with their AI companion were very or moderately helpful when it comes to talking about problems in their romantic or sexual relationships. Another 12% described their conversations as slightly helpful. In addition, 9% said they had ever used AI for sexual chat or roleplay.
• 39% said they occasionally tell AI things that they would not tell other people.
• 37% strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement: I would feel a personal loss if I could no longer interact with AI.
• 36% of AI companion users strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement: AI cares about my well-being.
• If they could no longer talk to AI about personal matters, 24% said they would miss it a lot; 40% said they would miss it a bit; and 36% said they would not miss it at all.
• 11% said they would rather have a conversation with their AI companion than with friends or family; another 27% said they value their conversations with AI as much as their conversations with friends or family. Overall, 59% said they鈥檇 rather have conversations with friends or family.

鈥淔uturists and cultural commentators have wondered what would happen once artificial systems became connected and companionable with humans,鈥� said Lee Rainie, director of 麻豆视频鈥檚 Imagining the Digital Future Center. 鈥淭he findings in our new study provide the first wave of insights about these emerging relationships as large language models like ChatGPT, Claude and Copilot are adopted by people and as AI agents become part of the landscape. They are harbingers of a future in which many more people will likely have these kinds of relationships.鈥�

Notable shares of AI companion users said they use their bots and turn to them in personal 鈥� sometimes intimate 鈥� ways:

• 39% said they had ever used AI to pass the time or have a conversation when they were bored or while doing something else like driving or preparing a meal.
• 38% of AI companion users strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement: I sometimes chat with AI just to feel less alone.
• 29% said they had ever used AI to talk about problems in their personal relationships.
• 26% said they had ever used AI to talk about problems in their work relationships.

Some companion users explore key life issues with their bots. Asked about some consequential ways they might interact with their AI companion:

• 67% of AI companion users said they had used their bot to get advice on health, fitness or lifestyle choices.
• 41% said they had used their bot to help explore how to deal with major financial questions like investments or big purchases.
• 39% said they had used their bot to help explore how to think about their career or education.
• 31% said they had used their bot to help explore how to deal with major issues related to their family, such as whether to have children or where to live.
• 30% said they had used their bot to help explore how to deal with legal matters in their lives.
• 26% of AI companion users said they had used their bot to help explore their spiritual, religious or philosophical beliefs.
• 11% of AI companion users said they had used their bot to help explore who or what to vote for in an election.

This survey was developed as a collaboration between the 麻豆视频 Imagining the Digital Future Center and the 麻豆视频 Poll. It was fielded by the international marketing and polling firm YouGov as an online, web-based survey. Between May 18 and May 22, 2026, YouGov interviewed 4,268 U.S. internet-using adults 18+ years old, with the goal of screening for and surveying AI users with emotional or social use of AI.

The total U.S. adult internet-using sample was then matched down to a sample of 4,031, yielding a target subsample of 1,000 AI users with emotional or social use of AI. The respondents were matched to a sampling frame on gender, age, race, and education. Further details on the methodology can be found

is an interdisciplinary research center focused on the human impact of accelerating digital change and the socio-technical challenges that lie ahead. The Center was established in 2000 as Imagining the Internet and renamed with an expanded research agenda in 2024. It is funded and operated by , a nationally ranked private university located in 麻豆视频, North Carolina.

The program paired undergraduate students with faculty members to support AI-related projects across the school. Student fellows helped develop and deliver workshops, interview faculty and build materials for future courses and boot camps.

Sakura Kawakami 鈥�26 worked with Scott Oakes, assistant teaching professor of management, and fellow students Julia Amodeo 鈥�26 and Katie Geraghty 鈥�26 on workshops for Gateway classes.

The team visited eight classes and reached approximately 240 students through 20-minute sessions with hands-on exercises. The workshops introduced students to Gemini Pro, available through 麻豆视频, and focused on practical skills such as improving prompts through iteration and added context.

鈥淭he primary goal was to establish a baseline of AI fluency among Gateway students, who are primarily first-year business students,鈥� Oakes said. 鈥淲e also wanted to test whether a short, bootcamp-style training session could effectively introduce students to practical AI skills within a classroom setting.鈥�

Faculty established the project鈥檚 overall objectives before the students joined. Kawakami, Amodeo and Geraghty then helped develop classroom activities, learning objectives, presentation materials, pre- and post-session surveys, and the rollout plan. The students also led the workshops and helped analyze the resulting data.

鈥淢y role as an AI Fellow was to act as a bridge between students and faculty, advising students on how to use AI to enhance their learning, not replace it,鈥� said Kawakami, a Business Analytics and Project Management major from Rotorua, New Zealand. 鈥淭he goal was to make sure students felt confident using these tools in ways that supported them.鈥�

One focus was helping students understand that effective use of AI often requires refining a prompt rather than accepting the first response.

鈥淥ne of our biggest teaching points was the importance of iteration when prompting AI,鈥� Kawakami said. 鈥淏y refining and tailoring your prompts to your own needs, you get far more accurate and useful responses.鈥�

Oakes said the student fellows strengthened the project by bringing their own experiences with AI into the classroom.

鈥淧eer-to-peer learning is incredibly powerful,鈥� he said. 鈥淔irst-year students often feel more comfortable asking questions and exploring new technologies when they see successful upper-level students demonstrating how they actually use those tools.鈥�

Another team worked with Kem Zhang, associate professor of business analytics, on projects designed to support more advanced AI use in business courses.

Thomas Case 鈥�26, a supply chain management and business analytics major from Atlanta, G.A. and Oliver Lorraine 鈥�27, a project management and business analytics major from Red Bank, N.J. gathered input from faculty and developed materials for future workshops. One project focused on Associate Professor David Jiang鈥檚, Bring the Venture to Life entrepreneurship course, where students develop and launch venture ideas.

Based on the needs identified for the course, the team created materials for an 鈥淎I-powered entrepreneurship鈥� workshop covering topics such as prompting for code, e-commerce, payment integration and deployment.

Case led the workshop design and drafted presentation materials. Lorraine documented the development process and built reusable coding templates for future workshops and boot camps.

鈥淭he transition from AI users to AI builders or AI architects is an important distinction because knowing how to use a tool generally is much different than knowing how to use a tool to innovate,鈥� said Case.

Lorraine also created Google Colab notebooks with coding templates for future use.

Zhang said the goal is to help students move beyond basic familiarity with AI tools.

鈥淔or business students, knowing how to use an AI tool is expected,鈥� Zhang said. 鈥淭he real advantage comes when they understand how these tools can be used in problem solving and to create concrete, AI-based solutions.鈥�

Several projects from the spring semester are expected to continue during the 2026-27 academic year, including the entrepreneurship workshop, an AI Boot Camp for incoming students and additional work on AI integration.

The spring 2026 AI Student Fellows were Brandon Boudreau 鈥�27, Thomas Case 鈥�26, Oliver Lorraine 鈥�27, Dylan Stone 鈥�28, Julia Amodeo 鈥�26, Sakura Kawakami 鈥�26, Lindsay Balick 鈥�27, Katie Geraghty 鈥�26, Katrina Papierman 鈥�26 and Tristan D鈥橝damo 鈥�28.

With a theme of “Breaking Through the Ordinary,” the 2025 Provost’s Report emphasizes the role of聽innovation聽in聽teaching today’s students and creating learning opportunities that lead to human transformation. 麻豆视频’s nearly 500 full-time faculty members exemplify an institutional commitment to the聽teacher-scholar-mentor model聽that defines the university’s nationally acclaimed approach to higher education.

Signature features in the report include an in-depth look at the way 麻豆视频:

• Approaches聽the use of artificial intelligence聽and leads national conversations of its ethical applications
• Works to establish a聽School of Engineering and Computing聽that emphasizes the skills,聽knowledge and global awareness students need to thrive in their careers
• Serves families of children with dyslexia through a new聽private elementary school聽like those supported through philanthropy at聽Vanderbilt, Mercer, and Florida Southern.

The report also includes shorter profiles drawn from each of 麻豆视频’s six schools/college that represent the innovative spirit faculty and staff bring to the community every day.

“As I reflect on these accomplishments, and on the important work that continues across the university, I am inspired by the talent, dedication, and shared purpose of 麻豆视频’s faculty members, staff members, and students,” said Rebecca Kohn, 麻豆视频’s provost and vice president of academic affairs. “Together, we are strengthening the academic life of the university and creating pathways that will sustain 麻豆视频’s ability to provide a valuable and transformative education for generations into the future.”