More than one in four UK adults have used generative artificial intelligence (AI), according to a new survey.

The Deloitte survey of more than 4,000 adults aged 16-75 found that just over a quarter (26%) of respondents – or around 13 million people – had used a generative AI tool.

One in ten of those who said they had used generative AI reported doing so at least once a day.

A similar proportion (around 10%) said they use generative AI for work, which approximates to around 4 million people in the UK using some form of the technology at work.

The survey also found that a little over half of respondents had heard of generative AI, even if they hadn’t used it.

Generative AI refers to AI systems that are able to generate realistic text or images in response to prompts provided by a human.

ChatGPT is undoubtedly the most well-known, having made headlines due to its ability to produce human-like responses in a variety of styles, but it has been followed by rival systems.

Microsoft has introduced its Bing chatbot, Google has its own Bard chatbot, and US company Anthropic launched Claude 2 last week.

The Deloitte survey found that over 40% of respondents who had used generative AI believed that it always gives answers that are factually correct.

In reality, AI is prone to producing serious factual errors, which is currently seen as one of the technology’s most significant flaws.