Artificial intelligence is no longer a futuristic promise. It’s already in our phones, offices, schools, and homes.
And for millions of Hispanics, tools like ChatGPT and Gemini are quickly becoming part of everyday life.
Contrary to the idea of a new “digital divide,” Latinos are not lagging behind non-Hispanic whites or African Americans.
A Pew Research Center survey conducted this year among 5,119 adults found that 49% of Hispanics use AI chatbots, exactly the same proportion as among African Americans and slightly higher than the 46% recorded among whites.
Furthermore, 26% of Latinos say they use them daily, compared to 24% of Blacks and 20% of whites.
What do we use them for? 41% of us use them primarily to search for information. Among working Latinos, 37% use chatbots for work tasks.
But some uses are particularly noteworthy: 25% consult information about diet or exercise, 23% seek medical advice, 24% create or edit images and videos, and 17% use these systems to stay informed about the news.
In other words, Hispanics aren’t observing the AI revolution from the sidelines. We’re right in the thick of it.
But Hispanics also have concerns about where this technology is leading us, even before the current debate about whether it represents an existential risk to humanity.
Pew found that 36% of Latinos surveyed believe that AI will have a negative impact on society over the next 20 years, while only 18% anticipate a positive impact. Among whites, the negative view reaches 43%, and among African Americans, 35%.
Furthermore, a majority of Hispanics, like whites, Blacks, and Asians, believe that artificial intelligence is advancing too rapidly.
The biggest risk for Latinos isn’t necessarily overusing AI, but rather using it without understanding its limitations or risks.
A chatbot can draft a letter, translate a document, or explain a complex concept in seconds. But it can also make mistakes, fabricate information, and perpetuate existing biases.
Three recommendations:
- Verify before trusting. Never assume that an AI response is automatically correct, especially regarding medical, legal, financial, or informational matters.
- Protect your data. Avoid sharing confidential information, private documents, passwords, or unnecessary personal data.
- Use it as a tool, not as a substitute for human judgment. AI can help us think, write, and learn, but the ultimate responsibility must remain ours.
