The news: AI use is growing in consumers’ lives, entering their homes, daily lives, and consumer devices. Half (49%) of US adults have used an AI chatbot as of 2026, up from 33% in 2024, per Pew Research. Nearly one-third (30%) use them about once a day, and 36% interact with AI at least several times a day.

And there’s a diminishing gap in which gender uses the technology most. Half of men and 47% of women use AI daily, up 11 and 19 percentage points, respectively, from 2024.

• Both genders use ChatGPT the most and at an equal rate (44%), but men are more likely to use Gemini, Copilot, and Grok. Women are more likely to use Meta AI.
• Women are slightly more pessimistic about AI’s future—33% believe AI will have a negative effect on them personally over the next 20 years, compared with 27% of men.

What it means: Adoption is broadening across genders as AI moves from niche tool to mainstream consumer tech. The nearly balanced use among men and women suggests AI is more integrated in everyday tasks and consumer experiences.

However, a new divide may be emerging—a gap between intensity of use rather than access.

Although men and women are now almost equally as likely to have tried a chatbot, men remain more likely to use them daily—27% of men cite daily use compared with 20% of women—and to experiment with a wider range of AI platforms.

That could translate into differences in familiarity and trust, which decides how much benefit consumers get from AI as the tech grows to be more ubiquitous inside work, shopping, and personal services.

Implications for brands: As AI applications and services grow, brands should treat the technology more like a mass-market feature than a novelty from early adopters. However, anxiety around AI’s future means brands need to prioritize transparency, user control, and clear value propositions when layering AI into shopping experiences, customer service, or personalized recommendations.

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