Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices of General Population Toward Utilizing ChatGPT: A Cross-sectional Study

ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence-based program, has been used by numerous users in various fields. This study aimed to determine to knowledge, attitude, and practices of the general population toward the use of ChatGPT. We invited the general population residing in Karachi, Pakistan from January to March 2023 in the study. The invitees participated in this study by filling out an online questionnaire through various social media platforms. The questionnaire assessed the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of the general population toward ChatGPT. We recruited a total of 525 participants for the study. The average age of the participants was 27.7 +/- 0.46. The results indicated that 400 (76.2%) of the participants were familiar with ChatGPT. Although 51.4% of the participants did not use ChatGPT frequently, 50.1% believed that utilizing ChatGPT could potentially diminish their cognitive abilities. Nevertheless, a significant number of participants (40.0%) did not express concern about encountering privacy and security issues while using ChatGPT. The gender and education level were statistically significant predictors of the ChatGPT practices, while age and occupation did not had a significant impact. In conclusion, the study showed that a majority of participants were familiar with ChatGPT and believed in its ability to understand and respond to user queries. They also had confidence in the accuracy of information provided by ChatGPT, indicating a moderate level of trust. Interestingly, some participants expressed concerns about potential negative impacts on cognitive abilities when relying too heavily on ChatGPT.