How Many People Use AI? 2026 AI Usage Statistics
About 2 billion people worldwide use AI, up from 1.8 billion a year earlier, by Menlo Ventures’ estimate (Menlo Ventures, 2026). ChatGPT alone has 1.2 billion weekly users (OpenAI, 2026). In the United States, 49% of adults use AI chatbots and 24% use one every day (Pew Research Center, 2026).
The answer depends on what counts as “using AI”: a weekly chatbot habit, any AI tool in the past six months, or an AI summary at the top of a Google search. Below is the latest figure for each, with its date, its sample and what it counts.
How to cite these statistics: link to this page and name the original source and year shown beside each number.
How many people use AI: the numbers at a glance
| What is counted | Number | Source and date |
|---|---|---|
| People who use AI, worldwide (estimate) | About 2 billion | Menlo Ventures, 2026 |
| Working-age people worldwide using generative AI | 18.8% | Microsoft, June 2026 |
| ChatGPT weekly users | 1.2 billion | OpenAI, Sept 2026 |
| U.S. adults who use AI chatbots | 49% | Pew Research Center, Feb 2026 |
| U.S. adults who used AI in the past six months | 64% | Menlo Ventures, July 2026 |
| U.S. adults 18 to 64 who use generative AI | 61.8% | GenAI Adoption Tracker, May 2026 |
| U.S. employees who use AI in their job | 52% (15% daily) | Gallup, May 2026 |
| U.S. businesses that used AI in the past two weeks | 23.8% | U.S. Census Bureau, Sept 2026 |
| U.S. businesses paying for AI tools | 56.1% | Ramp AI Index, Aug 2026 |
| U.S. teens who use AI chatbots | 64% | Pew Research Center, fall 2025 |
How many people use AI worldwide?
About 2 billion people used AI in 2026, roughly 24% of the world’s population, up 11% from 1.8 billion in 2025 (Menlo Ventures, 2026). It is a model, not a count: Menlo builds it from its U.S. survey and adjusts downward for internet access, age and regional adoption. Menlo is an investor in Anthropic.
18.8% of the world’s working-age population (ages 15 to 64) used a generative AI product in June 2026, up from 17.8% in the first quarter and 16.3% in the second half of 2025 (Microsoft AI Economy Institute, September 2026). Use reached 28.8% in the Global North and 16.2% in the Global South. The estimate comes from anonymized Microsoft telemetry, adjusted for device market share, internet access and population. Several widely used Chinese tools aren’t yet included, so treat it as a floor.
The biggest AI products by users
| Product | Users | What is counted | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google AI Overviews | More than 2.5 billion | Monthly actives | May 2026 |
| ChatGPT | 1.2 billion | Weekly users | Sept 29, 2026 |
| ChatGPT | Over 1.1 billion | Monthly users (Sensor Tower estimate) | May 2026 |
| Meta AI | More than 1 billion | Monthly actives across Meta’s apps | May 2025 |
| Google AI Mode | More than 1 billion | Monthly actives | July 2026 |
| Gemini app | More than 1 billion | Monthly actives | Aug 2026 |
| Microsoft AI features | 900 million | Monthly actives, all products | Oct 2025 |
| Claude | 245 million | Monthly users (Sensor Tower estimate) | May 2026 |
| Microsoft Copilot family | More than 150 million | Monthly actives, all Copilots | Oct 2025 |
| Grok | About 117 million | Monthly users of Grok’s AI features | March 31, 2026 |
Sources: Google I/O keynote (AI Overviews), OpenAI (ChatGPT weekly), Sensor Tower via TechCrunch (ChatGPT monthly, Claude), CNBC (Meta AI), Alphabet Q2 2026 remarks (AI Mode, Gemini app), Microsoft FY26 Q1 earnings (AI features, Copilot), SpaceX IPO filing (Grok).
These numbers can’t be added up. One person can use ChatGPT, see AI Overviews and chat with Meta AI in WhatsApp in the same week. OpenAI reports weekly users while the others report monthly, which is always the bigger number for the same product. And AI Overviews appear on their own in Google Search results, so people count without ever opening a chatbot. Anthropic has never published a Claude user count, so its figure is an outside estimate. How the assistants split the market is in LLM market share.
How many Americans use AI?
49% of U.S. adults say they use AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot, in a survey of 5,119 adults conducted February 17 to 23, 2026 (Pew Research Center, 2026). In 2024, 33% said they had ever used one, though Pew changed the question wording between the two surveys.
24% of U.S. adults use a chatbot daily: 8% about once a day, 12% several times a day and 4% almost constantly (Pew, 2026).
64% of U.S. adults used AI in the past six months, up from 61% in 2025, in a July 2026 survey of 5,067 adults conducted with Morning Consult (Menlo Ventures, 2026). By Menlo’s own conversion (55% of AI users equals roughly 90 million Americans), that is about 164 million adults. Menlo counts AI use across 41 everyday activities, which is why it runs higher than Pew’s chatbot question.
25% of U.S. adults use AI every day, up from 19% a year earlier, and 55% of AI users pay for at least one AI product (Menlo Ventures, 2026).
61.8% of Americans ages 18 to 64 used generative AI in May 2026, up from 44.6% in the third quarter of 2024 (GenAI Adoption Tracker, 2026). The tracker is run by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Vanderbilt and Harvard on the Real-Time Population Survey, and its figures are published on the St. Louis Fed’s FRED database. Use outside of work alone was 54.8%.
About seven in ten U.S. adults who don’t use chatbots say they are unlikely to start soon, and six in ten cite lack of interest as a major reason (Pew, 2026).
AI use by age
| Age | Use AI chatbots | Use a chatbot daily | Use ChatGPT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 to 29 | 66% | 31% | 61% |
| 30 to 49 | 61% | 34% | 55% |
| 50 to 64 | 42% | 19% | 37% |
| 65 and older | 23% | 7% | 19% |
| All U.S. adults | 49% | 24% | 44% |
Source: Pew Research Center, survey of U.S. adults, February 2026.
81% of Gen Z adults use AI, the highest of any generation, while Millennials lead daily use at 37% (Menlo Ventures, 2026). 84% of parents use AI, against 56% of adults without children.
AI use by gender, income, race and education
50% of men and 47% of women use AI chatbots, a gap that was 39% to 28% in 2024. Men are more likely to use them daily, 27% against 20% (Pew Research Center, 2026).
66% of upper-income adults use AI chatbots, against 49% of middle-income and 41% of lower-income adults (Pew report, 2026).
70% of Asian adults use chatbots, against 49% of Hispanic, 49% of Black and 46% of White adults (Pew, 2026). Pew’s Asian American estimates cover English speakers only.
52% of adults with a postgraduate degree and 51% with a bachelor’s had used ChatGPT, against 33% with some college and 18% with a high school diploma or less, in a February 2025 survey (Pew Research Center, 2025). Pew’s 2026 report does not break chatbot use out by education.
How many people use AI at work?
52% of U.S. employees use AI in their job at least a few times a year, 30% use it a few times a week or more and 15% use it daily, in a survey of 22,573 employed adults conducted May 6 to 20, 2026 (Gallup, 2026). Daily use is 42% in technology jobs, 27% in finance and 22% in professional services (Gallup, 2026).
51% of workers who use AI use it for writing and editing, 49% for search or research and 39% for general problem-solving (Gallup, 2026). For the email and calendar part of that work, Carly drafts replies and schedules meetings across all of your Google and Microsoft accounts, and you reach it by email, the web app or text.
45.2% of employed Americans used generative AI for work in May 2026, up from 33.3% in the third quarter of 2024 (FRED, 2026).
38% of employed U.S. adults use chatbots for tasks at work (Pew, February 2026). On a stricter question, 21% of U.S. workers said at least some of their work is done with AI, up from 16% a year earlier, and 65% said they don’t use AI much or at all in their job (Pew Research Center, September 2025 survey).
75% of knowledge workers worldwide were using generative AI at work, in Microsoft and LinkedIn’s survey of 31,000 people across 31 countries (Microsoft Work Trend Index, May 2024). The 2026 edition surveyed 20,000 people who already use AI, so it gives no newer adoption rate. Industry, role and time-saved figures are in AI in the workplace statistics.
How many businesses use AI?
23.8% of U.S. businesses used AI in any business function in the two weeks from August 24 to September 6, 2026, and 27.6% expect to within six months (U.S. Census Bureau, Business Trends and Outlook Survey, published September 24, 2026). The same question read 17.3% in November 2025. Before then the survey asked only about AI used “in producing goods or services,” so older readings aren’t comparable (U.S. Census Bureau, 2026).
56.1% of U.S. businesses paid for an AI product in August 2026, up from 45.0% a year earlier and 7.5% in January 2023 (Ramp AI Index, 2026). Ramp counts card and bill-pay transactions at more than 70,000 businesses on its platform.
The Census figure is lower because it samples all U.S. employer businesses, most of them very small. Ramp counts only businesses on its own platform, and a single AI purchase qualifies. Small-firm figures are in small business AI statistics and agent adoption in AI agent statistics.
How many teens and students use AI?
64% of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 use AI chatbots, and about three in ten use them daily, in a survey of 1,458 teens conducted September 25 to October 9, 2025 (Pew Research Center, December 2025).
54% of U.S. teens have used chatbots for help with schoolwork and 57% to search for information (Pew Research Center, February 2026).
95% of full-time UK undergraduates use AI in some form and 94% use generative AI to support assessed work, in a December 2025 survey of 1,054 students (HEPI and Kortext, 2026). 12% put AI-generated text directly into assessed work, up from 3% in 2024.
Which countries use AI the most?
| Rank | Country | Working-age population using generative AI, June 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | United Arab Emirates | 73.3% |
| 2 | Singapore | 64.3% |
| 3 | Ireland | 49.9% |
| 4 | France | 49.6% |
| 5 | Norway | 49.4% |
| 6 | Spain | 45.1% |
| 7 | New Zealand | 44.1% |
| 8 | United Kingdom | 43.7% |
| 9 | Netherlands | 43.5% |
| 10 | Qatar | 43.5% |
| 21 | United States | 33.0% |
Source: Microsoft AI Economy Institute, Q2 2026. Germany is at 32.3%, Japan 24.7%, Brazil 20.2%, India 18.5% and China 17.5%, the last understated because several widely used Chinese tools aren’t yet measured. South Korea gained the most of any top-25 economy, up 3.5 points to 40.6%.
7x the usage its working-age population would predict: that was Israel’s score on the Anthropic AI Usage Index, the highest of any country, followed by Singapore (4.57), Australia (4.10), New Zealand (4.05) and South Korea (3.73), with the U.S. at 3.62 (Anthropic Economic Index, September 2025, on August 2025 data). The index covers Claude only. The U.S. accounted for 21.6% of all Claude.ai use and India for 7.2%. By February 2026, the top 20 countries’ share of population-adjusted use had risen from 45% to 48% (Anthropic, March 2026).
How fast is AI use growing?
| Date | ChatGPT weekly users | Gemini app monthly users |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 2023 | 100 million | |
| Dec 2024 | 300 million | |
| Feb 2025 | 400 million | |
| May 2025 | 400 million | |
| Jul 2025 | 700 million | More than 450 million |
| Oct 2025 | 800 million | More than 650 million |
| Feb 2026 | More than 900 million | More than 750 million |
| May 2026 | More than 900 million | |
| Jul 2026 | 950 million | |
| Aug 2026 | 1 billion | More than 1 billion |
| Sep 2026 | 1.2 billion |
ChatGPT sources: The Verge, CNBC, OpenAI and NBER, TechCrunch, OpenAI, OpenAI and OpenAI DevDay. Gemini figures come from Google’s I/O keynotes and Alphabet’s earnings remarks. The full ChatGPT timeline is in ChatGPT statistics, and Claude’s in Claude statistics.
| Measure (U.S.) | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adults 18 to 64 using generative AI (GenAI Adoption Tracker) | 44.6% (Q3) | 54.5% (Q3) | 61.8% (Q2) |
| Employees using AI at work (Gallup) | 27% (Q2) | 40% (Q2) | 52% (Q2) |
| Employees using AI daily (Gallup) | 4% (Q2) | 8% (Q2) | 15% (Q2) |
| Businesses paying for AI (Ramp) | 34.2% (Aug) | 45.0% (Aug) | 56.1% (Aug) |
| Businesses using AI (Census) | n/a | 17.3% (Nov) | 23.8% (Sept) |
Every measure rose each year. Menlo’s survey shows where the growth is now: the share of adults using AI moved only from 61% to 64% in a year, while daily use went from 19% to 25%. For the broader picture, see AI statistics.
Popular numbers we couldn’t verify
- “378 million people use AI tools.” Credited to Statista. It is a paywalled market forecast, not a measured count, and Statista’s public page shows no figures. ChatGPT alone has more than three times as many weekly users.
- “77% of devices use AI.” Roundups attribute it to CompTIA and date it to 2022. We found no CompTIA publication containing the figure.
- “Gemini has 2.5 billion users.” The 2.5 billion is Google’s AI Overviews in Search (May 2026). The Gemini app passed 1 billion monthly users in August 2026.
- “35% of businesses use AI.” Real, but it comes from IBM’s Global AI Adoption Index 2022, a survey of companies worldwide (IBM, May 2022). Current U.S. figures are 23.8% of all businesses (Census) and 56.1% paying for AI (Ramp).
FAQ
How many people use AI in 2026?
About 2 billion people worldwide, by Menlo Ventures’ 2026 estimate. ChatGPT alone has 1.2 billion weekly users (OpenAI, September 2026), and Microsoft puts generative AI use at 18.8% of the world’s working-age population (June 2026).
How many Americans use AI?
Between half and two-thirds of adults, depending on the question. 49% use AI chatbots (Pew, February 2026), 61.8% of 18- to 64-year-olds use generative AI (GenAI Adoption Tracker, May 2026) and 64% used AI in the past six months (Menlo Ventures, July 2026), about 164 million adults.
What percentage of people use AI every day?
24% of U.S. adults use an AI chatbot daily (Pew, 2026) and 25% use AI every day (Menlo Ventures, 2026). At work, 15% of U.S. employees use AI daily (Gallup, May 2026).
What is the AI adoption rate for businesses?
23.8% of all U.S. businesses used AI in a recent two-week period (Census Bureau, September 2026). Among businesses on Ramp’s platform, 56.1% paid for an AI product in August 2026.
Which country uses AI the most?
The United Arab Emirates, where 73.3% of the working-age population used generative AI in June 2026, followed by Singapore at 64.3% (Microsoft). The U.S. ranks 21st at 33.0%. For Claude specifically, Israel leads per capita (Anthropic, 2025).
Related: AI Statistics · ChatGPT Statistics · Claude Statistics · LLM Market Share · AI in the Workplace Statistics · AI Agent Statistics
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