Most people who use artificial intelligence want more than faster output. They want the technology to help them grow as individuals, according to a new study by Anthropic, the San Francisco-based AI company behind the Claude chatbot.
Anthropic interviewed 80,508 people across 159 countries in 70 languages in December 2025, using an AI system built to conduct open-ended conversations rather than a fixed survey. Researchers then sorted the responses into categories describing what people hoped AI would do for them.
Professional excellence came first, cited by 18.8 percent of respondents. Personal transformation followed close behind at 13.7 percent, ahead of life management at 13.5 percent and time freedom at 11.1 percent. The results suggest people see AI as a tool for more than getting tasks done faster. Many want it to support how they think, learn, and relate to others.
The gap between that hope and current reality is wide. 81 percent of respondents said AI had already helped them make progress toward their goals, and 32 percent cited productivity as the clearest gain. Far fewer said AI had helped them grow personally. By Anthropic’s own tally, only about 6 percent described real benefit from AI as a source of emotional support or personal guidance.
Meanwhile, researchers at MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts, are trying to measure that gap directly. Working with the University of Southern California and the University of California, Berkeley, the lab has built an open benchmark, sometimes called the AI Impact Bench, designed to score AI systems on their impact on human well-being rather than on accuracy or efficiency alone.
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The project examines learning, purpose, social connection, and emotional health as measurable outcomes rather than side effects of AI development.
