Be Resourceful: What Marketers Can Learn About Gen Z And AI Usage From Interns

On the list of overworked people in this world, interns are always criminally overlooked.

(Even elves get some holiday spotlight and cheer for one season every year.)

And on the even-more specialized list of overlooked, overworked interns in this world, those at Goldman Sachs would arguably be perennial No. 1s.

Overlooked and overworked, interns there are at least granted a mic’d-up exit interview of sorts in the annual Goldman Sachs Summer Intern Survey, which this year gathered opinions from more than 2,100 interns on such broad topics as time travel (51% would prefer going to the past, 49% to the future), Oxford commas (75% say yes, 25% no), and, of course, AI use.

“Generally consistent with last year’s class, our interns most frequently use AI tools in their personal lives,” the study says, showing that for the 97% who use it, 31% use it to support their writing, 19% to verify information, 16% to get opinions or advice on topics, and 14% to check code. “77% of interns think AI tools will eventually replace traditional search engines … [and] 84% believe AI will have a net positive impact on society.”

(Source: Goldman Sachs)

Most were comfortable with AI assistance for content curation, customer service, shopping, personal finance, and healthcare; only the category of “creative work” saw a majority preferring no AI involvement whatsoever. 

As EMARKETER points out, marketers can glean larger Gen Z intel from these intern-insights, particularly in knowing when to avoid heavy AI use and “instead use it in channels where they’re more receptive, like shopping.”

Better still for marketers, think about what can be learned simply by not overlooking those around the office. Those who are there not just to lend a hand, but eager to be resourceful in any way possible.

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