Meredith's Husband | SEO for People Who Don't Like SEO
SEO for people who don't like SEO. I run an SEO agency. My wife Meredith is a family photographer. Our podcast explains how I got Meredith's website to the top of Google and answers questions from photographers about SEO and website marketing.
Meredith's Husband | SEO for People Who Don't Like SEO
The Rise of AI in Our Daily Lives (2025 Statistics)
In this episode, Meredith's husband previews an upcoming mini-course on how to get your website into AI search results, following new guidance from Google and SEMrush. He also shares surprising 2025 AI adoption statistics, including global usage trends, industry applications, and AI's educational impact.
Timestamps
[0:24] Pre-announcement: AI Mini-Course for Website Owners
[0:56] Google’s First Guidance on AI Search Results
[1:46] Updated AI Usage Statistics for 2025
[3:36] Global AI Adoption Surpasses Mobile
[4:34] Emerging Economies Outpacing Advanced Ones in AI Usage
[6:23] Generational Gaps in AI Expertise
[7:23] AI Use Cases: Teachers, Smart Homes, and Learning
[9:36] AI in Medicine and Robot-Assisted Surgeries
[11:21] Business Adoption of AI and ROI Challenges
[12:47] AI Risks: Jailbreaking, Energy Use, and Hallucination Rates
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Meredith's Husband
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First I got to make a little announcement or a pre-announcement. Okay, you remember that I don't know how many episodes. You know how many weeks ago I did a little poll.
Meredith:Yes, yes, yes, I remember. Which of these courses would you be interested in the people we're most interested in, right yeah.
Meredith's husband:So it turns out that there's more interest in the AI course than the other ones how to use AI for your site, how to get into AI search results, et cetera. So that course is going to. It's a mini course. It's not that big. It's like five or six sections. That's going to be ready next week.
Meredith's husband:Oh nice, thank you, and so next week I'll do a little summary next week's episode a little summary of what's in there, and there's really the first ever, I think sort of guidance from Google about kind of what you need to do to get your site into.
Meredith:AI results. Oh really.
Meredith's husband:Yeah, and some other tools. Some other, I would say, trustworthy tools like SEMrush have come out with what is now becoming credible guidance.
Meredith:Oh, wow.
Meredith's husband:Yeah, Up until now, like as I kind of talked about all the guidance on how to get your site into AI search results, it's kind of like people throw their hands up and they're like do you think that's because Google hadn't yet established their own?
Meredith:Yeah, yes, partially. Yeah, that makes sense.
Meredith's husband:But this week there was something in my inbox.
Meredith:Yes.
Meredith's husband:That I thought was fascinating. It was updated stats for AI, stats for 2025.
Meredith:What does that mean?
Meredith's husband:Like information, like statistics on who's using AI and what are they using it for, and et cetera, et cetera.
Meredith:When we use ChatGPT, is that all recorded Like in our and put in a little vault with our name on it?
Meredith's husband:Yeah, probably.
Meredith:Can that evidence be used against us?
Meredith's husband:That's a good question. I don't know.
Meredith:Just curious. Probably, I would think so.
Meredith's husband:Just like your search history can be like if somebody, if the government, is investigating a crime. Yeah, yeah, probably Just like your search history could be. I forget what they call it unlocked.
Meredith:Yeah, okay, good to know.
Meredith's husband:Because in this space things are changing so fast.
Meredith:So fast.
Meredith's husband:So stats that came out literally like six months ago well, that's kind of old news, and they're different now. So this is the what I think is the most current information that's came out just literally a couple of weeks ago. Well, that's kind of old news, and they're different now.
Meredith's husband:So this is the what I think is the most current information. This came out just literally a couple of weeks ago, Wow, and I'm going to summarize some. I'm going to some of the stats I thought were really interesting. I'm going to share those, but it's summarized by saying AI is on track To destroy humanity. No Good To change industry on a scale we haven't seen since the Industrial Revolution.
Meredith:Oh gosh For the better.
Meredith's husband:That doesn't say for good or bad, it's just for industry. So yes, industry is going to be doing things probably faster and cheaper, perhaps better. So that's not to me all that surprising. That's kind of a blanket statement. So that's not to me all that surprising, that's kind of a blanket statement. What I did think was interesting is it goes into talking about how many people are using AI worldwide, because it wasn't that long ago that only 10% of people were actually using it.
Meredith's husband:So worldwide 66% of people use AI intentionally. So that means going to chat GPT and using it, not using a tool that uses AI in the background and not being aware.
Meredith:So 66%, that's a big jump. Two thirds yeah.
Meredith's husband:So the adoption of it. One of the next stats is the adoption of using AI is faster than the adoption of mobile phones.
Meredith:I was just going to say. How would that compare to the invention of the television or the telephone or the radio?
Meredith's husband:Yeah, that makes sense, because I've heard many times that that sort of thing it just keeps getting faster and faster, like it took I don't know how many years for a million people to use a light bulb. And then how long did it take for a million people to use the radio, the newspaper, the TV, the internet, social media, mobile, and so every iteration it gets faster and faster.
Meredith:So it's again yeah, fax, remember faxes.
Meredith's husband:Yeah. Fax machines, yeah. Again. It's not really that surprising that it's happening. It's happening quickly. What is interesting, I think, is it says 80% of people in emerging economies use AI intentionally, compared to only 58% in advanced economies. So what that means is like it seems like it could potentially even the playing field a bit, you know, if people in economies that are still growing have access to the same things. And they're adapting to it faster that's going to be a problem.
Meredith's husband:I'm surprised by that. Actually, like people in advanced, like this country, the US, we're using it slower than everybody else. In fact, this was an interesting comparison. To put it into context, it said that only 31% of adults in the UA consume the UK.
Meredith:Oh UK.
Meredith's husband:The UK consume the recommended five portions of fruits and veggies per day. So then it makes the conclusion I don't know if this I totally agree with this, but it says that means that we are twice as likely to engage with AI than we are to eat a balanced diet.
Meredith:Well, it's easier.
Meredith's husband:I don't think that's necessarily true, given that information, but it's an interesting way to look at it.
Meredith:I think it's well, because, for some, eating vegetables and fruits is a chore rather than something that they get very excited about Right, and AI is helping instantly.
Meredith's husband:Yeah, I get it. I also wonder about people's diet in the UK.
Meredith:I think that's pretty spot on yeah.
Meredith's husband:Okay.
Meredith:They don't?
Meredith's husband:So one of the next ones, who is using AI the most? And it's talking about Students Generational, oh yeah, good guess I'll get to that in a second. Okay, but first level, even broader, it says millennials are the most active users. Yeah, kind of no surprise. Yeah 62% of millennials report what they call a high level of AI expertise. Yes, so those people they say that they are very confident using AI.
Meredith:And they can also recognize it really quickly.
Meredith's husband:Yes, Quicker than many of us.
Meredith:All of us.
Meredith's husband:Compare that 62% to 33% of older adults. So, like you and I, would probably be in that 33%. So they're twice as likely there's twice as likely to be using AI, right, okay, so the next section that I thought was interesting is what are people using AI for? So what are they doing with it? There's a few interesting points here. Number one says 50% of teachers are using AI for lesson planning and research.
Meredith:Oh, I thought you were going to say to distinguish if the papers have been written by AI.
Meredith's husband:Probably doing that too, I'm sure. Next point, we'll come back to that one in just a second, next point 42 to 55% of US households own at least one AI-powered smart home device. Oh, so like. Alexa thermostats stuff, light bulbs, shades, stuff like that.
Meredith:That are controlled by AI.
Meredith's husband:Not controlled by AI, but AI-powered smart tools. Like we have some smart tools. We have some smart things.
Meredith:Do we have any?
Meredith's husband:AI-powered. They're not AI-powered.
Meredith:Oh, okay.
Meredith's husband:What this seems to suggest to me is just moving forward. They're all going to be using AI on some level. Our home devices are just. They're a couple years old at least, so it wasn't an option?
Meredith:You mean, is it kind of like the? Was it called Silicon Valley, the TV show?
Meredith's husband:Yeah.
Meredith:With the refrigerator.
Meredith's husband:Yes, that was a smart refrigerator.
Meredith:Right, and I guess they'll say like you'll now know when you need celery.
Meredith's husband:Yeah Something like that.
Meredith:What we'll do is we'll put it already into a cart and ship it to you?
Meredith's husband:Yeah, like the Nest thermostats, use AI. They do they're the ones that, like, supposedly learn your rhythm and they adjust your heat based on the way you do it. So over time, you don't have to worry about setting anything. It will just do it automatically based on you and your habits. We don't have that one.
Meredith:No, this all freaks me out. Why does it freak me out?
Meredith's husband:Are we just going to sit? It's new.
Meredith:Are we going to sit in a pod and just have everything happen around us?
Meredith's husband:Well, that opens a whole new.
Meredith:I know.
Meredith's husband:That I would love to talk about. I know me too.
Meredith:It's like the telepathy tapes, a podcast I highly recommend.
Meredith's husband:Okay. Next, 84% of people use of those who use AI. Okay, 84% of them use AI to explore and understand new concepts and ideas. So, researching, hobbies, upskilling, planning, things like that learning essentially, that's nice, that's encouraging. I think that's fantastic.
Meredith:That's encouraging.
Meredith's husband:That's really what I think. That's what we should be doing with it. Yeah, it also mentions 20% of surgeries performed at the NHS hospitals in the UK. I don't know what those are. 20% are carried out using robot-assisted, ai-powered devices. And then it says that's expected to rise sharply. Yeah, I'm surprised by that. I would think that's going to be more like 100% pretty soon.
Meredith:That AIs are going to do surgeries. Yeah, AI-assisted.
Meredith's husband:pretty soon that AIs are going to do surgeries yeah, ai-assisted, so there's probably going to be a surgeon, but he is going to be using some AI or she is going to be using AI tools to help them do things. I don't know what. I don't know that much about surgery, but that's not surprising. I would think that would be. I would hope that would start to make surgeries easier more affordable, affordable.
Meredith:How about?
Meredith's husband:that More effective.
Meredith:Unlike now, can AI be hacked.
Meredith's husband:There is a jailbreaking issue with AI. And it's not being hacked. So it means you would take, like you take, the chat GPT bot, let's say, and use it for nefarious purposes.
Meredith:Okay.
Meredith's husband:Yes, that is an issue that's not hacking chat GPT. That's what they call jailbreaking, taking it, so these chat bots have rules.
Meredith:Yeah.
Meredith's husband:Like chat GPT and the other chat bots, they have rules built in Right, so that you can't use it to like, hey, let's turn off the energy grid in China. Like you can't do that, and many other things. Hopefully, when you jailbreak it, you take it out of that jail so you can use it for whatever. That's an issue.
Meredith:Moving on.
Meredith's husband:Next it talks a little bit about how companies are using AI. I don't know. Does this seem as interesting to you?
Meredith:Well, it depends on what the answer is.
Meredith's husband:So it said no surprise, 100% of industries are embracing AI, including ones you wouldn't think of, like mining and agriculture. So basically, every industry is trying to use AI. So, basically, every industry is trying to use AI. It goes on to say 92% of individual companies plan to increase their investments in AI in the next three years. But then this is kind of interesting to me it says only 25% of companies are seeing an ROI from AI. What's that? Return on investment? Yeah, so basically all companies are planning to increase their spending, but only 25% of them are actually making money as a result of it.
Meredith:So that seems interesting.
Meredith's husband:And it says 74% of companies face what they call critical barriers to scaling their AI solutions. I don't even know what that means, but it sounds to me like three quarters of companies there's some obstacle that they can't get around in scaling up their use of AI. So interesting. I don't know that seems like that section has a big old question mark on it. Okay, Now the section that you probably will not like. There is a section about AI risks and challenges.
Meredith:Okay, does it talk about animals?
Meredith's husband:It does not talk about animals. No, it says, first, that more than 70% of AI platforms are vulnerable to what I called the jailbreak attack.
Meredith:Aha, yes, okay.
Meredith's husband:So, yes, that's the big concern. Yeah, so, yes, that's the big concern. That's the big. You know. Somebody's going to use AI to take over the world type of worry that people have.
Meredith:Yeah, you know, there are kind people.
Meredith's husband:Yeah, there is also the problem that AI uses a lot of power. It uses a lot of power.
Meredith:Currently.
Meredith's husband:And it will get more and more and more.
Meredith:It's not like computers, no, where we used to have.
Meredith's husband:No, it's the opposite, Because the reason AI is possible is because we have we have never before had this much computing power as much as we have now. Correct, we could have like a hundred computers working on a problem for us somewhere in the cloud. That's what AI is doing. It has like hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands of computer chips, of computers working on these little, and that's why AI is possible. The more people use AI, the more widespread it becomes, the more power we're going to need.
Meredith's husband:Oh great use AI the more widespread it becomes, the more power we're going to need. Oh great, that's why people are talking about nuclear as being nuclear energy production.
Meredith:Are you serious? Yes, oh gosh.
Meredith's husband:That's a good thing. To be honest, nuclear power generation is much better for the environment.
Meredith:My dad's a chemical engineer. He designed power plants, okay.
Meredith's husband:It's a whole lot cleaner than coal generation.
Meredith:Great, absolutely yes, great, fantastic. It's way, way, way cleaner. That's a not bad thing, yeah.
Meredith's husband:Yeah, yeah, but anyway, more power. Yeah, it's going to need more power.
Meredith:More power, more problems.
Meredith's husband:It also says there is a 33% hallucination rate. So a hallucination in AI is like when it gives you, it's basically just making stuff up.
Meredith:Are you serious? Yes, like a placebo.
Meredith's husband:No, not like a, it's like giving. It's telling you very false stuff and telling you it's true.
Meredith:Oh, that's not good.
Meredith's husband:No, that's not good at all, and this seemed like it was getting better, like this was a big problem when chat GPT and these early chatbots started rolling out. There was a higher hallucination rate.
Meredith:I like how they call it hallucination. Rather than fault mistakes, bad information Lies. Yeah, it's hallucinating.
Meredith's husband:So it seemed like that was getting better. But in the most recent version of chat GPT 4.0, the hallucination rate was double what the previous one was. So they can still be wrong.
Meredith:So when my chat GPT says you're fabulous.
Meredith's husband:Of course, it's not wrong about that. There was actually a BBC study that found 51% of AI generated news summaries contained what they call significant issues, including 19% with completely inaccurate information. And that's in the news story.
Meredith:Oh boy.
Meredith's husband:I think what the problem is there is that chatbots cannot go out into the world and see what's happening.
Meredith:They can't differentiate between a social media post and the news story.
Meredith's husband:Well, it can't differentiate between, say, an article on the New York Times and an article on Fox, and those, as we know, can say very different things. So that seems to me that's where that issue is coming from, not necessarily that ChatGPT is responsible for the incorrect information. Correct, it's just gathering that information from sources that are incorrect. So my thoughts in going over this, what did you think was most interesting?
Meredith:Well, I appreciate that the other more quote the word developing countries.
Meredith's husband:Yes, developing economies. Maybe that could help unbalanced superpowers.
Meredith:Yeah, absolutely which would be very encouraging.
Meredith's husband:Absolutely yes. Yes, I also really like the fact that people are they're using it to learn.
Meredith:I like that too 84%, like that's a-. I don't want to know what they want to learn, but I'm glad that they are using it to learn.
Meredith's husband:Yes, exactly that's great. The situation where the teachers are using it to plan lessons and the students are using it. That's very interesting to me. I can't really wrap my head around what that means.
Meredith:It's like two sides of a conversation or like using AI that no one's having yeah, no one's actually engaging with, but people are learning.
Meredith's husband:AI, in my own experience, vastly expedites the learning process.
Meredith:But what about retention?
Meredith's husband:But one of the changes is that the AI in general is just presenting information in a much more conversational format, true, which I think is a lot more memorable than, say, looking at a list of 10 different websites on Google and trying to piece that information together. Yes, I think we can remember conversations a lot better. So I think those things. I think that part of AI is going in the right direction and the fact that students are using it like that makes me feel Of course students are using it.
Meredith's husband:And if they're confident using it like it, means that the new jobs that will emerge around AI that they will be ready for that, yeah, whereas I will not be. Okay, I hope you found this helpful.
Meredith:You will be.
Meredith's husband:Interesting. Check back next week if you want to hear more about how you can get your website into AI results and use AI to do that.
