In today’s column, I take a close look at a recently released Top Ten Uses of AI list that covers how the public is regularly making use of generative AI and large language models (LLMs). Some of the uses might surprise you, while some uses might be ho-hum. Either way, it is valuable to know how your fellow humans are leaning into AI and whether there are uses that you should consider employing too.
Let’s talk about it.
This analysis of an innovative AI breakthrough is part of my ongoing Forbes column coverage on the latest in AI, including identifying and explaining various impactful AI complexities (see the link here).
The Top Uses Of Generative AI
In an article entitled “How People Are Really Using Generative AI Now” by Marc Zao-Sanders, published in the Harvard Business Review on April 9, 2025, a helpful ranking of the top uses of generative AI and LLMs is provided. The article focuses on the Top Ten uses, but handily also lists an entire set of Top 100 uses.
I’m going to concentrate here on the Top Ten uses.
The ranking is a follow-up to one that author published in HBR last year on March 19, 2024. Here’s what he has to say about this latest version (excerpts):
- “Building upon the foundation laid in last year’s report, written up in this Harvard Business Review article, this updated edition seeks to provide a comprehensive and systematic analysis of how individuals are utilizing Generative AI (GenAI) in 2025.”
- “The research methodology remains largely consistent with the prior study, employing a rigorous, expert-driven curation of public discourse, sourced primarily from Reddit forums.”
- “The findings underscore a marked transition from primarily technical and productivity-driven use cases toward applications centered on personal well-being, life organization, and existential exploration.”
- “This shift, along with the increasing sophistication of AI users, suggests that GenAI is not merely a tool for efficiency but is increasingly becoming an integral part of human decision-making, creativity, and emotional support.”
One bit of a quibble by some is that the ranking was mainly based on looking at online forums such as Reddit and Quora to uncover what are the most popular said-to-be uses of generative AI.
Whether this research method is an adequate representation of the populace at large is an open question. Other similar rankings tend to use direct surveys or try to collect stats outright from AI makers. In any case, the list looks reasonably apt to me and resonates with other rankings, including approximately matching my own direct experience of asking people how they are making use of AI when I give talks and presentations.
Revealing The Top Ten
Without further ado, here is the Top Ten ranking:
- (1) Therapy/companionship.
- (2) Organize my life.
- (3) Find purpose.
- (4) Enhance learning.
- (5) Generate code.
- (6) Generate ideas.
- (7) Fun and nonsense.
- (8) Improve code.
- (9) Creativity.
- (10) Healthier living.
Before I do a quick rundown of why each of those happened to become so popular, I’d ask you to quietly take a reflective moment and compare the list to your personal use of generative AI.
These are some gently inquisitive questions to ask yourself:
- (i) Are there uses that landed in the Top Ten that you’ve never undertaken yourself, and if so, should you consider trying generative AI for those use cases?
- (ii) Are the uses pretty much aligned with your usage, and if so, does it identically match to the ranking such that you use AI for therapy/companionship as your #1 use, then for organizing your life as your #2 use, and so on, or is your ranking different?
- (iii) For your most frequent personal uses, are there aspects not shown in the Top Ten list, and if so, why is that usage so popular for you but not the same across the board?
- (iv) The Top Ten tends to be shaped around personal use rather than usage for work purposes (other than perhaps generating code #5 and improving code #8), which brings up whether you are using generative AI for work and if so, are you possibly foregoing personal use by an emphasis on work-oriented use?
- (v) Does the list of Top Ten uses provide you with any notable insights about how other people are using generative AI, and if so, what does it say to you about your fellow humans and where society overall is headed?
Grab yourself a glass of fine wine and give those hefty thoughts a moment of introspection.
Quick Details On Each Of The Top Ten
Let’s next do a quick unpacking for each of the topics in the Top Ten ranking. I will also provide links to additional content in case you are further interested in the specific usage mentioned.
#1. Therapy/companionship – I’ve written extensively about the use of generative AI for mental health purposes and noted that a grand experiment is underway, namely that access to AI-powered non-professional “therapy” is available 24/7, nearly for free, and accessible anyplace on Earth. Will this on balance lift people and aid their mental health, or might it undercut their mental health? It is happening at scale, regardless of being good or bad. Also, will people opt to use AI over seeking a human therapist, which could be worrisome if human-provided therapy ought to have been sought? On the other hand, this democratization of a form of on-the-go “therapy” is said to be of potential immense benefit to all. For these and other vital aspects of this topic, see my analysis at the link here.
#2. Organize my life – This use of generative AI is a lot less monumental in contrast to the #1 usage since it is about how to organize your life rather than what’s going on inside your head. At the same time, it is notable that people want to get their act together and be organized in what they do. The gist is that even if the AI doesn’t provide the best advice on being organized, no worries, you’ll still be fine. This interest in AI as your organizational coach seems readily sensible and readily encouraged. Go ahead and use AI to get yourself highly organized.
#3. Find purpose – If you were to ask a friend or family member about finding a purpose, you might get entangled in a messy conversation that produced more noise than help. The nice thing about AI is that it will walk you step-by-step through a thinking process of how you can discover your self-purpose. For more on this, see my deep dive at the link here.
#4. Enhance learning – The buzz these days is that we all need to be lifelong learners. Makes sense. But how can you do so? Easy-peasy, leverage generative AI. You’d likely be surprised to see how many topics that generative AI can tell you about. That being said, do not allow AI to be your only source of learning. Go beyond AI, please.
#5. Generate code – An amazing capability of generative AI is that you can tell it to generate code such as Python or C++, and it will write programs just like a human programmer. This capability is being greatly improved and will continue to get better. Right now, by and large, you still need to know something about programming and will need to carefully inspect the generated code, test it, etc. For the time being, AI isn’t yet a full-on ace. For more on this topic, see my analysis at the link here.
#6. Generate ideas – Suppose you are desperately trying to come up with ideas and feel that you’ve struck a wall and your mind is blank. Log into generative AI and get the AI to assist your ideation efforts. You can tell the AI to provide you with ideas. Another angle is to bounce around ideas with the AI, inspiring you to actually come up with the ideas via sparring with your AI partner.
#7. Fun and nonsense – We all need some mental downtime to just have fun and relax. You could use a video game or play tic-tac-toe with someone. Another route is to use generative AI, doing so merely to play around. You can tell the AI to come up with a game and you are the player in the game. Or you can come up with a game, tell the AI the rules of the game, and see how well the AI plays your game. It’s all up to you. For details, see the link here.
#8. Improve code – This aspect is in the same ballpark as the #5 on this list of Top Ten AI uses. The difference is that you give some program code to the AI and tell it to improve or enhance the code. On the one hand, your code might be redone and be a lot more efficient. The worry though is that the AI can inadvertently insert something untoward into your code, which you might not realize is there, and later on, once that code is running someplace, the proverbial mess can hit the fan.
#9. Creativity – Do you find yourself at times not being able to think outside the box? Some people are very creative, while others have a difficult time being creative. Generative AI can spark your creativity. And, though some insist that AI cannot be creative, I think you’d be pleasantly surprised to see that generative AI can produce all manner of creative outputs. To learn more about how AI can produce creative results, see my explanation at the link here.
#10. Healthier living – Tons of specialized apps will tell you what to eat, and when to exercise, and otherwise guide you toward a healthier existence. Most people do not realize that generative AI can generally do likewise. Now, before the app makers howl, if you use generic generative AI, it won’t be keeping a database of your pursuits and overall is not going to do as robust a job. Consider using generative AI simply as a starter to get you into living healthier.
What About The Next Ten Uses
Now that we’ve covered the Top Ten, I’m betting you are immensely curious about what the next ten consists of.
Your wish is fulfilled; here are the #11 to #20 rankings:
- (11) Prepare for interviews.
- (12) Generate relevant images.
- (13) Specific search.
- (14) Simple explainers.
- (15) Cook with what you have.
- (16) Troubleshoot.
- (17) Personalize learning.
- (18) Boost confidence.
- (19) Adjust tone of email.
- (20) Explain legalese.
The last one on that list, #20 on explaining legalese, I caution you to be careful since generative AI is not necessarily going to give you a solid semblance of what the legal ramifications are of a contract or other legal document. It can do a broad brush but decidedly do not rely on that as any kind of legally authoritative interpretation. For more on how to mindfully use AI for legalese explanations, see my discussion at the link here.
Your Use Is Your Deal
The aim of this look at the top uses of generative AI is primarily to give you a big-picture perspective on garnering the most from contemporary generative AI and LLMs. You ought not to underplay the use of generative AI, which could mean you are missing out on some valuable facilities.
Perhaps take a few “spare” minutes and sit down at generative AI to try each of the Top 20 (yes, all twenty), and see how it goes. You can skip any of the uses you’ve already tried before.
The last word on this goes to the legendary Mark Twain: “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” So, go ahead, and get started on using generative AI for these uses, and more. You might strike gold.