In July 2024 GKI conducted a representative survey of 1,000 people about the spread of artificial intelligence (AI) in Hungary. The study finds that AI is more often used for private purposes than regularly at work or in studies, and there are clear age and occupational differences in how frequently people apply AI tools.
Key findings
- Nearly half of respondents never use AI for work or studies, and another 17% use it only very rarely. At the same time, 8% use AI frequently and 9% very frequently in their work or studies.
- For private use, 64% have used AI; about one third of those private users (roughly 20% of the overall sample) are frequent users.
By age and occupation
- Age groups: The largest disparities are by age — the younger the respondent, the more likely they are to use AI. Among students, 90% have used AI for their studies; 42% very frequently and a further 16% frequently.
- Active workers: 56% of employed respondents use some form of AI in their work; 17% use it frequently or very frequently.
- Occupation: The most intensive workplace users are those in independent intellectual professions. They are followed by managers and office workers in the private sector. AI use is less common among entrepreneurs and even less so among office workers in the public sector.
Location and gender
- Use of AI is higher in the capital, partly reflecting the larger share of the service sector there compared with other settlement types.
- The survey found no notable differences in AI use between men and women.
Workplace concerns
- Seventy percent of respondents perceive some level of threat from AI to their jobs over the next five years, but only 5% consider that threat significant.
- Young people who use AI more enthusiastically are also more likely to fear for their jobs. Students express greater anxiety about future employment than those already working.
- Office employees in the private sector feel most threatened by AI, while those working as independent intellectuals are less worried about losing work to AI.
Methodology and scaling
The survey is representative and was based on a sample of 1,000 respondents in July 2024. Answers were rescaled onto a -100 to +100 scale where -100 indicates complete absence of AI use, 0 denotes medium-frequency use, and +100 indicates very frequent AI use.
Why it matters
The findings show that although AI is widely tried in personal contexts, its regular use at Hungarian workplaces remains uneven. Given the markedly higher adoption among younger age groups, the incoming cohorts to the labour market are likely to increase workplace AI adoption over time, particularly in certain occupations and in the capital.
Authors
- Mihályi Máté — Research areas: economic policy, macroeconomics, labour market, social mobility, with a focus on Central and Eastern Europe.
- dr. Molnár László — Research areas: regional differences, current challenges in environmental protection and labour market trends.
(This article summarizes results from GKI's July survey.)
