The second article in YouGov’s U.S. AI brand rankings delves into how AI platform Preference differs across generations, from Gen Z to Baby Boomers, and examines how these age groups utilize AI tools in their daily lives. Building on a previous installment that ranked AI tools by general preference, this follow-up leverages YouGov BrandIndex and YouGov Profiles data to explore two key aspects of generational AI behavior: which AI brands Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers+ express a preference for, and the specific AI tasks Americans report having used in the past 30 days. This comprehensive analysis provides a deeper understanding of the diverse engagement with artificial intelligence across different age demographics in the United States.
ChatGPT and Gemini lead across generations, but Claude over-indexes among Gen Z
OpenAI’s ChatGPT leads in AI platform Preference among users across all generations, showing its strongest appeal among Gen Z (44.4%) and Millennials (36.9%). It also holds the top spot for Gen X (24.9%) and Baby Boomers+ (24.5%). Google’s Gemini ranks second overall, with particular strength among Gen X (22.8%) and Millennials (19.2%), though its preference among Gen Z is lower at 14.3%. Claude exhibits a younger user base, preferred by 10.6% of Gen Z but only 1.4% of Baby Boomers+. Conversely, Microsoft’s Copilot sees increasing preference with older users, from 4.4% in Gen Z to 12.3% in Baby Boomers+. Voice-first assistants like Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa also show higher preference among older AI users, with Siri registering 9.9% among Gen X and 9.6% among Baby Boomers+, and Alexa reaching 11.0% among Baby Boomers+ but 0% among Gen Z. Meta AI also sees stronger preference among Baby Boomers+ (7.3%).
What do different generations use AI for?
Beyond brand preference, YouGov Profiles data reveals how different generations are actually employing AI tools. Web searches are the most common AI use across all generations, with 38.8% of U.S. adults reporting this activity. Usage for web searches remains fairly consistent across age groups: 37.8% of Gen Z, 40.3% of Millennials, 40.5% of Gen X, and 36.6% of Baby Boomers have used AI for web searches in the past 30 days. Significant differences emerge in content creation and transformation tasks. Gen Z is notably more likely than Baby Boomers to use AI for generating ideas or enhancing creativity (33.6% vs. 10.5%), summarizing content (28.1% vs. 10.8%), generating images (25.9% vs. 9.6%), proofreading or quality control (24.7% vs. 7.3%), and writing code or scripts (14.8% vs. 1.6%). Millennials also show high engagement with production-oriented tasks, including idea generation (28.1%), content summarization (25.7%), image generation (25.3%), and email writing (22.3%). While Baby Boomers use AI less for advanced content generation, many still rely on it for search (36.6%) and personalized recommendations (15.1%).
Explore more AI brand data
These rankings offer a partial glimpse into the extensive AI-sector data available through YouGov BrandIndex and YouGov Profiles. For a comprehensive understanding, a deeper briefing can provide full AI brand rankings, detailed insights on Preference, Accuracy, Personal Impact, Satisfaction, and audience segmentations by generation and work-role. It can also cover specific AI task-use patterns, competitor benchmarks, and evolving trend data, as YouGov consistently tracks this dynamic sector.
Methodology
This article's findings are based on YouGov BrandIndex data collected from February 1, 2026, to July 31, 2026, and YouGov Profiles data from July 2026. The AI brand Preference ranking by generation includes U.S. adults who have used generative AI within the last 30 days, segmented into All U.S. AI users, Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers+. Preference is determined by respondents first identifying AI tools they would consider, then selecting their most preferred. YouGov BrandIndex monitors 18 AI brands in the U.S., excluding Canva Magic Studio, DALL·E, Midjourney, DeepMind, and LLaMA from this ranking to focus on consumer-facing, general-purpose AI tools. The task-use chart utilizes YouGov Profiles data from U.S. residents aged 18+, covering all generations except the Silent Generation and Pre-Silent Generation due to sample size constraints. Generations are defined as: Gen Z (1997 or later), Millennials (1981-1996), Gen X (1965-1980), Baby Boomers (1945-1964), and Baby Boomers+ (Pre-1964). YouGov also discloses that AI tools assisted in the data analysis for this article.
About YouGov BrandIndex
YouGov BrandIndex is a powerful tool that continuously tracks consumer perceptions of thousands of brands across various markets, sectors, and target audiences. It provides valuable insights that enable brands to assess their performance against competitors, monitor shifts in consumer perception over time, and identify the specific audiences driving those changes.
About YouGov Profiles
YouGov Profiles is an advanced audience intelligence platform designed to help brands gain a deep understanding of their target audiences. It provides insights into who their audiences are, their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. Leveraging millions of demographic, psychographic, attitudinal, behavioral, media, and brand variables, Profiles offers continuously collected consumer data that is refreshed on a weekly basis, ensuring up-to-date and relevant insights.
