Sometimes we get caught up in the AI bubble. I certainly do.

We read big headlines. We hear about 10x productivity. We watch demos of tools we sometimes never end up using.

But then comes an article that tells us what’s actually happening. Pop!

This week, Harvard Business Review published one of the most insightful snapshots I’ve seen so far: "How People Are Really Using GenAI in 2025."

Not predictions. Just the real habits, use cases, and worries from thousands of people (mainly on Reddit) using AI - like you and me.

Let’s break the article down - and what it means for us as leaders.

🔍 What’s Changed in the Last 12 Months?

This is an update to the same article originally published in 2024. Since then, a lot has happened:

• Custom GPTs are everywhere.
• NotebookLM debuted with a bang.
• Chain-of-thought reasoning became mainstream.
• Costs dropped dramatically.
• Competition grew, with the likes of DeepSeek and Grok

But beyond the tech, something more important changed: The way people are using AI shifted.

🧠 The Top 100 Use Cases in 2025

These 100 use cases were grouped into six broad themes.

• 31% Personal and Professional Support
• 18% Content Creation and Editing
• 16% Learning and Education
• 15% Technical Assistance and Troubleshooting
• 11% Creativity and Recreation
• 9% Research, Analysis, and Decision-Making

According to the author's research, these are the most common and impactful 10 ways people are using GenAI this year:

Notice the pattern? The top 3 are all deeply human. Emotional. Reflective. Focused on purpose, not so much on productivity. This was mind-blowing to me.

In other words: we’re using GenAI less like a calculator, and more like a coach, a therapist, or a personal assistant.

📌 What People Are Really Saying

Here are a few direct quotes from users which bring some of these examples to life. Everyday people solving everyday problems - faster, smarter, better. And some of them are incredibly touching.

• Therapy: “Where I’m from, in South Africa, mental healthcare barely exists. Unfortunately, data safety is not a concern when your health is deteriorating, and survival is the morning agenda.”
• Organizing life: “I just asked it to create a timeline for me to clean and organize my house before we have guests staying.”
• Purpose: "Claude has helped me make some major personal breakthroughs, reframed things, helped me deal with heavy trauma issues and show myself compassion, helped me be more confident in myself and better value my own self-worth.”
• Learning: “I’ve been taking an online course to learn data analysis on my own and I use ChatGPT as a study guide to explain some stuff that the course kind of glosses over, which I then add to my notes."
• Healthier living: “I just started trying a new eating plan, and calculating the macros with the spreadsheets of online ‘meal planners’ was making me crazy. Now I just ask for recipes based on my given macro needs per meal and take that list shopping.”
• Disputing fines: “I received a penalty for entering a bus lane. I asked ChatGPT to write me an appeal and this morning got the letter saying the PCN has been voided. Thank you, AI, because I would have likely just paid the money if I had to type out a long, boring appeal letter myself.”

🚀 Bringing It All Together - Why This Matters for Leaders

If we transfer these to our organisations, this article reinforces some of the things we have been discussing for a while.

1️⃣ Soft skills are now being amplified through digital behaviors. Organizing, planning, reflecting, learning, prioritizing - these are now augmented by AI. It’s not simply about “tech-savviness” - it’s about personal leadership, elevated by tools.

2️⃣ The shift in behaviours is happening. People are using AI for all types of things. Quietly. Consistently. Every day. They’re leaning on it for confidence, creativity, and clarity. That’s a different kind of value - one we need to understand and support.

3️⃣ We can’t just build it (AI strategy) and they will come. People are doing this with or without a roadmap. If we don’t create space for experimentation and share what works - our teams will build their own path anyway. Wanna bet?

I'll see you next week.

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