Pennsylvania pales in AI use compared to its neighbors
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Pennsylvanians are embracing AI use more slowly than half of the country, well behind tech-centric states like California as well as neighbors like New Jersey and New York, per a new report from Anthropic.
Why it matters: Uneven adoption around the U.S. means certain states are more likely than others to benefit, and it threatens to worsen existing inequalities.
Driving the news: Pennsylvania ranks 28th among U.S. states and Washington, D.C., in its usage of Claude — Anthropic's AI platform — relative to population.
By the numbers: D.C. tops the nation, at 3.82 times higher than expected usage. Utah ranks second.
- California (3rd) and New York (4th) round out the states using Claude the most, relative to population. New Jersey is 17th.
Zoom in: People in Pennsylvania are most frequently using Claude for writing tasks, help with academic research and educational content, and for medical and health care guidance.
- People who work in tech and mathematical fields make up Claude's biggest user base in the state, followed by workers in educational instruction and creative, media and sports industries.
The intrigue: Compared to other states, Pennsylvanians are using Claude more often to research consumer products and buying decisions, and for creating K-12 teaching materials.
What they're saying: Anthropic economist Peter McCrory told Axios that the goal of the research is to equip policymakers, researchers and the broader public with enough data "so that the benefits of AI are broadly felt."
- "What we really hope with this data is to help people understand [and] anticipate how AI at the frontier is changing the nature of work," McCory said.
- Anthropic is making the data openly available for other researchers and policymakers.