Exclusive: AI adoption splits along urban-rural lines
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Working-age Americans in cities are nearly twice as likely to use AI as those in rural communities, according to a new report from Microsoft, shared first with Axios.
Why it matters: The uneven spread of AI adoption could deepen existing economic opportunity gaps across the U.S., Microsoft president Brad Smith said in an interview.
The big picture: Microsoft's U.S. county-level data shows AI adoption is splitting along familiar economic and geographic lines.
- Part of that boils down to trust. More than half of urban respondents say AI is likely to act in the public interest, compared with less than 40% in rural areas.
By the numbers: Nearly a third of people in large urban areas use AI, compared with 16.2% of rural residents.
- Residents of smaller cities fall in between those extremes, with about 22% of people using AI.
- There's some variance even within large cities. Among the 35 largest U.S. metro areas, AI usage ranges from a high of almost 40% in Washington, D.C., to just over 25% in Pittsburgh.
Between the lines: Smith said that closing the rural-urban gap is important — and not just to tech companies that want more customers.
- Deploying AI more broadly, Smith hopes, will generate economic growth across the country.
- He says AI "has real potential to address some of the important problems in rural America."
- "It's very unfortunate if the people who could benefit from it the most — who arguably need it the most — are accessing generative AI less frequently," he said.
Friction point: The products themselves are part of the problem, Smith admits.
- "We have to understand people's problems. We have to make the case and we have to make the products useful and easy for people to use," he told Axios.
- "We have a lot of work to do," he said
Case in point: On health care, Smith argued, AI could help a shrinking pool of rural doctors see more patients and give rural residents access to more medical information.
Yes, but: The advice people are getting from AI medical advice is not always good.
Zoom out: Smith says the report should be a wake-up call and not just for those using — or not using — the technology.
- "I think that it is an imperative for the tech sector not only to make the case, but to heed the importance of building AI in a way that gives people the opportunity to pursue better jobs," Smith said.
- "Usually when you have a PR problem, it's because you have a reality problem."
- "If we can't turn this technology into something that gives people more opportunities in their career, then we're falling short of what we've sought to do for 50 years."
Reality check: College towns are hotspots of AI usage.
- Every county in the top 15 AI adopters is home to a college or university.
- Williamsburg, Virginia, leads the country, with nearly three-quarters of residents using AI.
- Smith noted that while college-aged people are the heaviest users of AI, they are also among the technology's loudest critics.
The bottom line: Closing the AI adoption gap could determine whether the technology narrows or widens economic divides across the country.
- "If it's not addressed, it is one more factor that will exacerbate the opportunity gap that defines much of America in the year 2026," Smith said.
