Sam Altman says Gen Z is using ChatGPT like a personal operating system

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said younger generations are using ChatGPT very differently from older users. College students, in particular, have integrated the chatbot so deeply into their routines that it now works like a digital operating system for many of them.

Altman spoke about this clear generational divide at Sequoia Capital’s AI Ascent event. Older users mostly use ChatGPT as a smarter search engine, while people in their 20s and 30s use it more like a personal advisor. He also observed college students building entire workflows around it.

“They really do use it like an operating system,” Altman said during the interview, published by Sequoia on YouTube. “They have complex ways to set it up to connect it to a bunch of files, and they have fairly complex prompts memorized in their head or in something where they paste in and out.”

Altman said that many younger users consults ChatGPT for personal decisions. Why not? The system is extremely helpful with its past conversations and context.

“There’s this other thing where they don’t really make life decisions without asking ChatGPT what they should do,” Altman said. “It has the full context on every person in their life and what they’ve talked about.”

His comments highlight how AI tools are moving beyond productivity software and becoming part of daily life for their younger users.

Students are adopting ChatGPT faster than anyone else

OpenAI’s own data supports Altman’s observations.

Americans aged 18 to 24 are adopting ChatGPT faster than any other demographic, according to another OpenAI report in February 2025. Over 30% of people in that age group already use the platform, Business Insider confirms.

Separate research from the Pew Research Center found that 26% of U.S. teenagers between 13 and 17 used ChatGPT for schoolwork in 2024. That was up sharply from 13% in 2023.

For many students, using ChatGPT as an “operating system” means more than asking homework questions. Users connect the chatbot to lecture notes, PDFs, cloud storage, calendars, and coding tools. Some build reusable prompt templates for writing, studying, research summaries, scheduling, and software development.

Universities are still trying to catch up. Many schools now allow limited AI-assisted brainstorming or editing, but require students to disclose when generative AI tools are used in assignments. Others have tightened restrictions over concerns about plagiarism and overreliance on AI systems.

Researchers say the trend resembles earlier technology shifts involving smartphones and search engines. But this transition may be deeper because AI systems are increasingly becoming part of how users think, organize information, and make decisions.

Experts remain divided over AI as a “life advisor”

Not everyone believes relying on AI for personal advice is harmless.

A November 2023 study cited by Fortune warned that ChatGPT-generated safety advice still requires expert verification. Researchers said users should understand the limitations of AI systems before acting on recommendations.

Other studies have raised concerns that large language models can sound persuasive even when their advice is flawed because the systems lack real empathy, judgment, or moral reasoning.

At the same time, some researchers argue that using AI for routine organization, brainstorming, or low-stakes decisions may be useful and relatively low risk.

Altman compared the current moment to the early smartphone era, when younger users adapted much faster than older generations.

“It reminds me of when the smartphone came out, and every kid was able to use it super well,” he said. Older users, by contrast, “took three years to figure out how to do basic stuff.”

Altman also said ChatGPT now “writes a lot of our code” internally at OpenAI, though he did not give a specific percentage. By comparison, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in 2024 that AI systems were generating more than 25% of new code at Google.

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