AI Adoption in the UK: What Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X and Boomers Are Really Using AI For

Generational Breakdown of Monthly AI Use

Unsurprisingly, this differs considerably by generation. Whilst usage is not quite universal amongst Gen Z it rises to 84% of this youngest of the generational cohorts tracked, and up to just over 3/4s of Millennials at 76%. Gen X are in line with the all adult average at 63% whilst only 37% of Baby Boomers, the oldest of our cohorts, have used AI in the last month, which is around half as many as the all adult average.

What UK Internet Users Are Using AI For

In terms of what UK internet users are using AI for, ‘to find information’ is far and away the most popular action, topping the list at 43%. Gen Z and Millennials are even more likely to be doing this, on 54% and 48% respectively, while Gen X are around average on 44% and Baby Boomers lagging behind on 30%.

‘To get advice on problems’ is the second most popular AI action, and not just for all UK internet users (22%) but for all four of our generations. Third place, however, is a little more contested.

Rounding out the top 3 is ‘to create or enhance written content’ with 20% of all UK internet users having done so in the last month, and this was also the third most popular AI action amongst Millennials and Gen X.

How AI Behaviour Varies by Generation

The third most popular AI action for our youngest cohort Gen Z is ‘to learn or improve skills’, at 34% a higher percentage than the 29% who use AI for written content creation/ enhancing, and twice as many as the average UK internet user to have used AI in this manner. Gen Z are also almost twice as likely as average to have used AI ‘to save time or increase efficiency (31% vs 17%).

Baby Boomers were the only other generational cohort for whom the third most popular AI action differed from average, with this oldest generation’s preferring ‘to get personalised recommendations, although not by much at 6.1% vs 5.8% for content creation/enhancing.

For Millennials, the greatest variation in their AI actions vs the average UK internet user is ‘to create or enhance images/videos’, with this cohort being just over one and a half times more likely than average to have done so in the last month (23% vs 15% of all UK internet users), and just under one and a half times more likely to have used AI ‘to learn or improve skills’ (25% vs 17%).

Gen X’s AI actions are pretty much in line with the all UK internet user average, with no AI action being statistically more or less popular than average bar ‘to learn or improve skills’ which they were significantly less likely to have done in the last month (12% vs 17%).

The Generational Gap in AI Use Is Getting Wider

For Baby Boomers, other than using AI to help them to find information, very few other actions appear to be of interest to them – the drop from 30% undertaking the most popular AI action for this cohort is to only 9% for the second most popular action. In fact, 80% of Baby Boomers who used AI in the last month did so ‘to find information’ whilst for Gen Z and Millennials, even though this was the most popular AI action for both, only 64% and 63% respectively did so, highlighting the much more varied use of AI by the two youngest cohorts compared to the almost but not quite singular use by the oldest.

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