"The increasing availability of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools has raised important questions about how these technologies are being adopted by individuals and how they affect daily activities across work and non-work domains. Despite the rapid growth of AI applications, there are currently no federal surveys that link individuals' use of AI to a detailed record of their activities.

"The American Time Use Survey (ATUS) is uniquely positioned to fill this gap. By pairing new AI questions with the ATUS time diary, the collection will allow researchers and policymakers to understand when, how, and for which tasks people use AI tools. No other national survey provides this level of behavioral insight; existing federal surveys may collect limited information on technology use, but none provide activity-level detail or link AI use to a continuous 24-hour record.

"Office of Management and Budget clearance is being sought for a new module to the ATUS with a set of questions regarding AI. These questions will provide the first nationally representative data linking AI use to detailed, activity level time use information. The AI items will supplement the ATUS by identifying:

• Whether individuals have used AI tools;
• The tasks for which individuals use AI;
• How AI use varies across demographic and occupational groups; and
• How AI use relates to time spent in work, education, household production, and leisure.

"The information collected will allow BLS and external researchers to examine how AI interacts with individuals' daily activities, analyses that cannot be conducted using any existing federal data sources. The data will be used to produce public-use microdata files, tabulations, and technical documentation.

"The proposed AI questions will be fielded beginning in January 2027 for a two-year period, allowing BLS to capture early patterns of adoption during a time of rapid technological and behavioral change."

Read the complete Federal Register notice and submit comments by September 8, 2026.