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Lee Rainie

@lrainie.bsky.social
427 followers 172 following 83 posts

Director, Imagining the Digital Future Center, Elon University. Former Director of internet/tech research at Pew Research Center.

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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Our new survey shows Americans share core concerns we discovered in our big report in April covering experts views about the propects for human resilience in the Age of AI. New survey: imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/reports-and-... Expert report: imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/reports-and-...
imaginingthedigitalfuture.org
Human Purpose in Peril - Imagining the Digital Future Center
Americans fear AI will undermine human meaning and weaken social bonds, even as AI users report some satisfaction and useful outcomes from the bots now September 14, 2026 In this...
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
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%). NEW report by Elon University’s Imagining the Digital Future Center imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/wp-content/u...
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Big AI stats in the new report from Imagining the Digital Future Center -65% of US adults now use LLMs -20% of LLM users have already built their own custom agent, including 36% of young adults (ages 18-29) Full report - Human Purpose in Peril - is at: imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/wp-content/u...
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
NEW report by Elon University’s Imagining the Digital Future Center: U.S. adults fear AI will undermine people’s sense of meaning and weaken social bonds, even as daily users report some personal satisfaction and useful outcomes from bots imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/wp-content/u...
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Reposted by Lee Rainie
Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
"Twenty-seven percent of Americans turn to AI chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini with personal, emotional or social queries, according to a new poll from researchers at Elon University in collaboration with The Washington Post."
wapo.st
‘A friend I can trust’: How Americans described their relationship with AI
More than a quarter of U.S. adults turn to chatbots for personal or emotional discussions, including for entertainment or social advice, a new survey found.
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
How AI Companion Users use their bots for social and emotional purposes New survey findings from the Imagining the Digital Future Center at Elon University imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/wp-content/u...
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Portions of AI Companion users say … They would miss it a lot if they could no longer talk to AI about personal matters That their AI bot is at times more reliable than family and friends New survey findings from the Imagining the Digital Future Center imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/wp-content/u...
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Some of the ways AI Companion users describe their interactions with chatbots: 71% said their bot gives them good advice 39% said it understands them better than most people New survey from the Imagining the Digital Future Center imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/wp-content/u...
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
AI companion users feel connected to the chatbots 51% agreed that “talking to AI helps me feel better when I’m stressed or upset” 38% agreed that “I sometimes chat with AI just to feel less alone” Survey from the Imagining the Digital Future Center imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/wp-content/u...
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
How AI Companion Users customize their bots 19% have given their bot a name 16% have customized their bot’s personality Stats about the AI activities of AI Companion users in a new report from the Imagining the Digital Future Center at Elon University imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/wp-content/u...
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Stats about AI Companion users in new report from the Imagining the Digital Future Center: 83% use ChatGPT vs. 64% who use Gemini vs. a third who use Copilot and Meta 60% usually access their bot on a phone Nearly half use two or more chatbots imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/wp-content/u...
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
New data about AI Companion users from the Imagining the Digital Future Center at Elon University: 59% agree that “AI gives me the support I need” 39% have told AI things they would not tell other people 31% consider their AI chatbot to be a friend imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/wp-content/u...
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
27% of U.S. adult internet users are AI Companion users - they use chatbots for notable social and emotional purposes. Here is a profile of who they are New report from the Imagining the Digital Future Center at Elon University imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/reports-and-...
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
New report from the Imagining the Digital Future Center: 27% of U.S. adult internet users are AI Companion users – they have significant social and emotional interactions with LLM systems such as ChatGPT. A third consider their AI bot a friend. imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/reports-and-...
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Reposted by Lee Rainie
The GovLab @thegovlab.org · 14/04/2026
Reboot Democracy's #ResearchRadar: AI’s biggest risk isn’t a single failure, it’s a slow drift. Less agency, weaker shared reality, more automated dependence. @elonuniversity.bsky.social's 386 experts say resilience must be built as infrastructure, not left to individuals.
rebootdemocracy.ai
The New Human Resilience Challenges Posed by AI
In “Building a Human Resilience Infrastructure for the AI Age,” based on insights from 386 global experts, a warning emerges: the greatest risk is not a single catastrophic event, but a slow drift toward diminished human agency, fragmented reality, and growing dependence on automated systems. Lee Raine and Janna Anderson reflect on how, as AI becomes society’s invisible operating system, individual resilience is no longer enough. The report argues for urgent, coordinated action to build resilience as shared infrastructure across governments, institutions, and communities to ensure people can still question, contest, and shape the systems increasingly shaping them.
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Reposted by Lee Rainie
Beth Simone Noveck @bethnoveck.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
#ResearchRadar: AI’s biggest risk isn’t a single failure, it’s a slow drift. Less agency, weaker shared reality, more automated dependence. @elonuniversity.bsky.social's 386 experts say resilience must be built as infrastructure, not left to individuals. rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/ai-huma...
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
NEW REPORT from the Imagining the Digital Future Center: In 160+ impassioned essays, global experts note AI is quickly becoming the invisible operating system of society. They urge an institutions-first strategy to help support human resilience. imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/reports-and-...
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
NEW REPORT from the Imagining the Digital Future Center on human resilience in AI Age. 82% of experts in this canvassing say AI will play a significantly larger role in shaping people’s lives and key societal functions in the next 10 years or less. imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/reports-and-...
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
NEW REPORT from Imagining the Digital Future Center at Elon University Experts Call for Radical Change Across Institutions and Social Structures, Warning That AI Will Be Significantly More Influential in the Next 10 Years or Less imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/reports-and-...
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Whopping majorities of U.S. faculty members in NEW survey by Elon University's Imagining the Digital Future Center say they expect GenAI to hurt students’ performance in key ways. imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/collaboratio...
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Big majority of U.S. faculty members in NEW survey by Elon University's Imagining the Digital Future Center say they expect GenAI to have at least some effect on the typical teaching model in their department. imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/collaboratio...
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Majorities of U.S. faculty members in NEW @itdfuture @aacu survey say their schools are not very/not at all prepared for some key uses of GenAI tools like preparing students for future work and preparing faculty to use GenAI for teaching. imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/collaboratio...
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
A third of U.S. faculty members in NEW survey by Elon University’s Imagining the Digital Future Center say they choose not to use GenAI for teaching and learning purposes. Teachers of arts and humanities are most likely to avoid AI tools. imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/collaboratio...
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Half of U.S. faculty members in NEW Imagining the Digital Future Center and American Association of Colleges and Universities survey say increased use of GenAI tools has had a more negative than positive impact on their students’ future careers. imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/collaboratio...
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Three-quarters of U.S. faculty members in NEW Imagining the Digital Future Center survey say cheating has increased on their campuses since GenAI tools have become widely available. More than half say it has increased a lot imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/collaboratio...
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Vast majority of U.S. faculty members in NEW Imagining the Digital Future Center survey say the use of GenAI will diminish students’ attention spans imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/collaboratio...
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Vast majority of U.S. faculty members in NEW Imagining the Digital Future Center survey say the use of GenAI will diminish students’ critical thinking skills imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/collaboratio...
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Nearly every faculty member responding to a NEW Imagining the Digital Future Center survey fears the impact of GenAI on college students will be to increase their overreliance on these tools imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/collaboratio...
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
NEW report by @ITDFuture @aacu surveying college/university faculty around the nation about the impact of #ArtificialInteligence on #HigherEducation. We find huge concern/skepticism that is affecting teaching and learning imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/collaboratio...
imaginingthedigitalfuture.org
The AI Challenge: How college faculty assess the present and future of higher education in the age of AI - Imagining the Digital Future Center
National Survey: 95% of College Faculty Fear Student Overreliance on AI and Diminished Critical Thinking Among Learners Who Use Generative AI Tools Full report | Charts | Methodology and Topline...
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Reposted by Lee Rainie
David Vivancos www.vivancos.com @vivancos.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
Thanks🙏 @lrainie.bsky.social & J. Quitney @elonuniversity.bsky.social Imagining the Digital Future Center for the report “The Future of Being Human in 2035” 🌏 Download it here: www.elon.edu/u/news/2025/... Thrilled to add my thoughts on the subject with world leaders friends and colleagues
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
12/12 NEW report from @elonuniversity.bsky.social Imagining the Digital Future Center finds experts have positive views about how the co-evolution of humans and AI will affect humans’ … creativity and innovation imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/reports-and-... #AI #GenerativeAI #AIresearch
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
11/12 NEW report from @elonuniversity.bsky.social Imagining the Digital Future Center finds experts have positive views about how the co-evolution of humans and AI will affect humans’ … decision making imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/reports-and-... #AI #GenerativeAI #AIresearch
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
10/12 NEW report from @elonuniversity.bsky.social Imagining the Digital Future Center finds experts have positive views about how the co-evolution of humans and AI will affect humans’ … curiosity and capacity to learn imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/reports-and-... #AI #GenerativeAI #AIresearch
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
9/12 NEW report from @elonuniversity.bsky.social Imagining the Digital Future Center finds experts have negative views about how the co-evolution of humans and AI will affect humans’ metacognition imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/reports-and-... #AI #GenerativeAI #AIresearch
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
8/12 NEW report from @elonuniversity.bsky.social Imagining the Digital Future Center finds experts have negative views about how the co-evolution of humans and AI will affect humans’ … self identity, meaning and purpose imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/reports-and-... #AI #GenerativeAI #AIresearch
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
7/12 NEW report from @elonuniversity.bsky.social Imagining the Digital Future Center finds experts have negative views about how the co-evolution of humans and AI will affect humans’ … human agency imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/reports-and-... #AI #GenerativeAI #AIresearch
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
6/12 NEW report from @ElonUniversity’s Imagining the Digital Future Center finds experts have negative views about how the co-evolution of humans and AI will affect humans’ … empathy imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/reports-and-... #AI #GenerativeAI #AIresearch
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
5/12 NEW report from from @elonuniversity.bsky.social Imagining the Digital Future Center finds experts have negative views about how the co-evolution of humans and AI will affect humans’ … mental well being imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/reports-and-... #AI #GenerativeAI #AIresearch
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
4/12 NEW report from @elonuniversity.bsky.social Imagining the Digital Future Center finds experts have negative views about how the co-evolution of humans and AI will affect humans’ … shared values and cultural norms imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/reports-and-... #AI #GenerativeAI #AIresearch
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
3/12 NEW report from @ElonUniversity’s Imagining the Digital Future Center finds experts have negative views about how the co-evolution of humans and AI will affect humans’ … confidence in their native abilities imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/reports-and-... #AI #GenerativeAI #AIresearch
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
2/12 NEW report from @ElonUniversity’s Imagining the Digital Future Center finds experts have negative views about how the co-evolution of humans and AI will affect humans’ … social and emotional intelligence imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/reports-and-... #AI #GenerativeAI #AIresearch
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
1/12 NEW report from @ElonUniversity’s Imagining the Digital Future Center finds experts have negative views about how the co-evolution of humans and AI will affect humans’ … capacity to think deeply imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/reports-and-... #AI #GenerativeAI #AIresearch
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
NEW report from Imagining the Digital Future Center at @elonuniversity.bsky.social covers experts’ answers about the impact of the co-evolution of humans and AI in 12 key aspects of human capacities. In most areas, they trend negative. imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/reports-and-... #AI #AIresearch
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
Experts have mixed views about the overall impact of AI on the essence of being human in next 10 years NEW report from @elonuniversity.bsky.social's Imagining the Digital Future Center imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/reports-and-... #AI #GenerativeAI #AIresearch
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
Majority of tech experts say the magnitude of change in humans’ native capacities/behaviors as they adapt to AI will be “deep and meaningful,” or even “dramatic” over next decade NEW report from @ITDF at @ElonUniversity imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/reports-and-... #AI #GenerativeAI #AIresearch
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
“The Future of Being Human”-NEW report from @elonuniversity.bsky.social Center explores how experts worry that humans’ native capacities/behaviors will be significantly changed in the coming decade as AI systems become more prevalent. imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/reports-and-... #AI #AIresearch
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
I loved working with @bethnoveck.bsky.social and her team on this post. It’s full of data from imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/reports-and-... … and … imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/reports-and-...
imaginingthedigitalfuture.org
Close encounters of the AI kind - Imagining the Digital Future Center
The increasingly human-like way people are engaging with language models Read the full report | Download this report (PDF) | Survey methdology and topline (PDF) March 12, 2025 Half of...
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Reposted by Lee Rainie
Beth Simone Noveck @bethnoveck.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
➡️ New on Reboot Democracy, @lrainie.bsky.social writes about new research that shows that while many Americans are fearful in important ways about AI – particularly generative AI and LLMs – the user base is exploding. rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/love-ha... @thegovlab.org @burnescenter.bsky.social
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
This is such important work. Worth a full read
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Lee Rainie @lrainie.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
LLMs will have a range of positive & negative impacts in the next decade, say today's LLM users. They are upbeat about health breakthroughs, but worried about social fallout. Survey data: @ITDFuture at Elon University imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/reports-and-... #LLM #AI #GenerativeAI #AIresearch
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