The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) among Mac app users has seen a significant surge, as revealed in a recent report by Setapp, an app subscription service. The study discovered that 42% of Mac users now utilize AI-based applications on a daily basis, and a notable 63% believe that apps integrating AI provide more value compared to those without AI features. Furthermore, Mac app developers are actively embracing AI technology, with 44% having already integrated either AI or machine learning models into their applications, and an additional 28% are in the process of doing so.
Setapp’s survey is a part of their annual report on the state of Mac apps. The company offers a subscription service that provides access to over 230 Mac apps, and this year’s survey collected responses from 1,241 Mac users, primarily in the U.S. Consequently, it offers insights into AI-based app adoption among this portion of the Mac user base but may not fully represent the global landscape. Nevertheless, the report emphasizes the growing interest in AI apps within the Mac ecosystem, mentioning that the top AI apps are not limited to macOS-exclusive applications. They include Google’s AI Bard and Bing, both of which incorporate AI technology from OpenAI.
In addition to these, other leading AI apps that users commonly mentioned using include TypingMind, Elephas, Spark, Notion, Grammarly, Craft, Luminar Neo, MacGPT, Asana, Raycast, and MacWhisper. Some of these AI-powered applications enhance users’ existing apps rather than being standalone AI-focused platforms.
Mykola Savin, the product lead at Setapp, highlighted the transformative impact of AI on the app usage experience by providing additional user assistance. He also mentioned the growing adoption of AI tools and features within the Setapp platform, emphasizing that users tend to repeatedly use these AI-driven features once they experience their benefits.
This is the first year that Setapp included questions about AI app adoption in its annual survey, making it impossible to quantify how many more Mac users are now incorporating AI apps into their daily routines compared to previous years. Nonetheless, AI applications have evidently become a substantial part of users’ everyday workflows.
On average, Mac users have 51 installed apps, and they access up to 15 of them daily. Considering that 42% of users now use AI apps daily, it’s clear that AI plays a substantial role in users’ daily activities. These AI-driven applications complement other frequently used apps, such as browser apps, Microsoft and Google Office tools (both of which are increasingly integrating AI technologies), and Adobe software that has embraced generative AI in various applications, including Photoshop and other Creative Cloud tools. Hence, users’ exposure to AI-powered apps may be even more extensive than the survey results suggest.
The report also offers additional insights into Mac app adoption and discovery trends. It highlights the popularity of subscription-based models over one-time purchases and notes that the Mac App Store, YouTube, and social media are the primary channels for discovering new applications. Moreover, 70% of survey respondents reported having a Mac with either an M1 or M2 chip, indicating a significant shift towards these advanced hardware platforms.