The third article in YouGov’s UK AI brand rankings looks at how AI platform Preference varies by generation, and how those age groups are using AI tools in daily life.
In the first installment of YouGov’s UK AI brand rankings 2026, we looked at how UK consumers rank different AI tools based on Preference.
In this follow-up article, we use YouGov BrandIndex and YouGov Profiles to explore two views of generational AI behaviour: which AI brands Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X and Baby Boomers+ say they prefer, and what UK consumers have used AI for in the past 30 days.
Which AI brands are winning with each generation?
OpenAI’s ChatGPT leads Preference among Gen Z at 36.3%, Millennials at 36.6% and Gen X at 28.7%. Its advantage is strongest among younger adults: among Gen Z, it is more than three times the level recorded by Gemini at 10.8%.
The picture changes among Baby Boomers+. Amazon’s Alexa is the preferred option for AI users of this generation with 24.6% selecting the brand, ahead of ChatGPT at 19.6%. Alexa’s Preference rises steadily across the age groups, growing from 4.0% among Gen Z to 6.7% among Millennials, and 12.8% among Gen X.
Microsoft’s Copilot performs best among Gen X at 14.4% and Millennials at 13.9%, compared with 9.0% among Gen Z and 7.2% among Baby Boomers+. Claude shows a younger skew, reaching 8.8% among Gen Z, compared to just 1.6% of Baby Boomers+.
Gemini is largely consistent across generations, ranging from 8.5% among Baby Boomers+ to 13.4% among Millennials.
What are different generations using AI for?
Beyond preference across different generations, audience intelligence from YouGov Profiles adds a second layer: what, specifically, different age groups of Brits are using AI tools for.
Across all generations, web searches are the most common AI use, selected by 31.7% of British adults. This figure varies by age group: 37.3% of Millennials, 35.4% of Gen X, 24.6% of Gen Z, and 26.4% of Baby Boomers+ say they have used AI tools for web searches in the past 30 days.
Younger adults stand out more commonly go to AI assistants for creative and productivity uses. Generating ideas or enhancing creativity is reported by 27.9% of Gen Z and 22.7% of Millennials, compared with 13.2% of Gen X and 8.1% of Baby Boomers+. Summarising content follows a similar pattern, at 25.9% among Gen Z and 26.5% among Millennials, compared to 14.9% of Gen X and 5.5% among Baby Boomers+.
Production-oriented tasks like using AI to write emails are also more common among younger adults. 20.7% of Gen Z and 22.1% of Millennials use AI to write emails, compared with 14.5% of Gen X and 5.1% of Baby Boomers+.
While younger adults are using AI across more tasks in general, Baby Boomers+ are not avoiding AI assistants, their uses just don’t vary as widely. Following web searches through AI, personalised recommendations is the second-most common use among this generation at 9.5% and generating ideas ranks third at 8.1%.
Explore more AI brand data
These findings provide a selected view of the audience data available across YouGov BrandIndex and YouGov Profiles. Deeper analysis can explore:
- Full AI brand rankings within each generation
- Additional demographic, occupational and behavioural audience cuts
- Which tasks and attitudes are associated with each AI brand
- Competitor benchmarks across Preference, Accuracy, Personal Impact and Satisfaction
- How brand and audience perceptions change over time
Methodology
The generational Preference analysis draws on YouGov BrandIndex UK data collected from 1 March , 2026 to 31 July, 2026. It covers all UK AI users and four generations, with minimum chart bases of n> 6,740 overall, n> 920 for Gen Z, n> 2,170 for Millennials, n> 1,890 for Gen X and n> 1,750 for Baby Boomers+.
Preference is based on Purchase Intent: respondents first select which AI tools they would consider using, then select which of those they like or prefer using most. The chart displays the overall Top 10 brands in overall Preference order; the generation-specific values do not represent separate generation-specific Top 10 selections.
The task-use analysis draws on YouGov Profiles data reported in July 2026. Minimum bases are n> 12,380 for all GB adults, n> 870 for Gen Z, n> 3,090 for Millennials, n> 3,810 for Gen X and n> 4,290 for Baby Boomers+. Respondents were asked which tasks they had used Artificial Intelligence tools for in the past 30 days.
Silent Generation and Pre-Silent Generation are omitted from the public task-use chart due to limited sample sizes. “None of these” and “Not asked/Not applicable” are excluded. Percentages are shown rounded to one decimal place.
Disclosure: The data analysis in this article was conducted by YouGov with the assistance of AI tools.
About YouGov BrandIndex
YouGov BrandIndex is an always-on brand tracking tool that measures consumer perceptions of thousands of brands across sectors and markets. It helps marketers monitor brand health, benchmark competitors, identify audience-specific strengths and weaknesses, and understand how perceptions change over time.