The second article in YouGov’s U.S. 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 U.S. AI brand rankings, we looked at how the nation ranks 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 behavior: which AI brands Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers+ say they prefer, and which AI tasks Americans report using in the past 30 days.
ChatGPT and Gemini lead across generations, but Claude over-indexes among Gen Z
OpenAI’s ChatGPT leads Preference among AI users across every generation. It is strongest among Gen Z AI users, at 44.4%, followed by Millennials at 36.9%. It also leads among Gen X at 24.9% and Baby Boomers+ at 24.5%.
Google’s Gemini ranks second overall and is especially strong among Gen X, where it is preferred by 22.8% of the generation’s AI users. Gemini also places second with Millennials at 19.2%; among Gen Z, it sits at 14.3%.
Claude has a younger profile, preferred by 10.6% among Gen Z but just 1.4% among Baby Boomers+. Microsoft’s Copilot moves the other way, rising from 4.4% among Gen Z to 12.3% among Baby Boomers+.
Voice-first and device-embedded assistants also see higher Preference among older AI users: Apple’s Siri registers 9.9% among Gen X and 9.6% among Baby Boomers+, while Amazon’s Alexa reaches 11.0% among Baby Boomers+ and appears as the top choice for 0% of Gen Z respondents. Older users also show stronger Preference for Meta AI, which reaches 7.3% Preference among Baby Boomers+.
What do different generations use AI for?
Beyond preference across different generations, audience intelligence from YouGov Profiles adds a second layer: what, specifically, different age groups of Americans are using AI tools for.
Across all generations, web searches are the most common AI use, selected by 38.8% of U.S. adults. This figure remains relatively consistent by age group: 37.8% of Gen Z, 40.3% of Millennials, 40.5% of Gen X, and 36.6% of Baby Boomers say they have used AI tools for web searches in the past 30 days.
Bigger differences appear in tasks that involve creating, editing, or transforming content. Gen Z appears much 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 report relatively high use across several production-oriented tasks, including generating ideas (28.1%), summarizing content (25.7%), generating images (25.3%), and writing emails (22.3%). Baby Boomers are less likely to report most content-generation and technical AI uses, though many still use AI for search (36.6%) and personalized recommendations (15.1%).
Explore more AI brand data
These rankings are a selected view of the AI-sector data available in YouGov BrandIndex and YouGov Profiles. A deeper briefing can explore full AI brand rankings, Preference, Accuracy, Personal Impact, Satisfaction, generational and work-role audience cuts, task-use patterns, competitor benchmarks, and trend data as YouGov continues daily tracking of this evolving sector.
Methodology
This article draws 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 is based on U.S. adults who have used generative AI in the past 30 days. The table shows All U.S. AI users, Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers+. Sample sizes are rounded down in the chart footnote.
Preference is based on respondents first selecting which AI tools they would consider using, and then selecting the one they like or prefer using the most.
YouGov BrandIndex tracks 18 AI brands in the U.S. For this ranking, Canva Magic Studio, DALL·E, Midjourney, DeepMind, and LLaMA were excluded from the published tables because the analysis focuses on consumer-facing, general-purpose AI tools and platforms.
The task-use chart uses YouGov Profiles data among U.S. residents aged 18+. It shows All generations, Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers. Silent Generation and Pre-Silent Generation are not shown due to sample-size considerations.
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).
Disclosure: The data analysis in this article was conducted by YouGov with the assistance of AI tools.
About YouGov BrandIndex
YouGov BrandIndex tracks consumer perceptions of thousands of brands every day across markets, sectors, and audiences. It helps brands understand how they are performing against competitors, how perceptions change over time, and which audiences are driving those changes.
About YouGov Profiles
YouGov Profiles is an audience intelligence platform that helps brands understand who their audiences are, what they think, and how they behave. Drawing on millions of demographic, psychographic, attitudinal, behavioral, media, and brand variables, Profiles provides continuously collected consumer data that is refreshed weekly.