The news: Across generations, US consumers are using genAI primarily for web searches, but Gen Z is leading the charge for other purposes, per a YouGov BrandIndex analysis.

• 33.6% of adult Gen Zers use AI tools for generating ideas, compared with just 21.7% of the general population.
• 28.1% prefer it for summarizing content.
• 27.3% turn to AI for support in decision-making, far above the rest of the population at 18.3%.

Gen Z also overindexes on generating images, proofreading, socializing, data analysis, and writing code with AI tools.

Zooming out: US adults of all ages named OpenAI’s ChatGPT their top choice in AI assistants.

• Google’s Gemini is a close second for Gen Xers with 22.8% preferring it, just behind ChatGPT’s 24.9%.
• 19.2% of millennials and 14.3% of Gen Zers also opted for Gemini as their second-favorite.
• Anthropic’s Claude rounds out the top three for Gen Zers, with 10.6% preferring that tool.

Gen Z is the only generation that has zero preference for Amazon’s Alexa or Perplexity.

The bigger picture: Gen Z’s loyalty to ChatGPT comes even as the platform’s overall US market share slips. In May, ChatGPT's share fell to 46.4%, per Sensor Tower, while Gemini climbed to 27.7% and Claude to 10.3%. We can expect this to shift to continue as AI tools are embedded in more devices and on more platforms.

AI use is fragmenting across platforms as its audience expands. This year, 161.5 million US consumers will use genAI at least once per month, per our forecast, and that number is expected to reach 203.1 million in 2030, representing 58.9% of the US population.

Recommendations for marketers: Prioritize content optimized for AI citation, covering product details, buying guides, and topical explainers. Consider brand-adjacent copy like best practices in writing, vacation destinations, and detailed product descriptions to help boost genAI appearances.

Experiment with ChatGPT advertising, but cap budgets until return on ad spend (ROAS) becomes clear. Also, monitor how different generations use AI over the next several quarters to gauge shifts in behavior.