As generative AI (gen AI) transforms Americans’ personal and workplace routines, different generations are responding in different ways.
Today, 57% of U.S. adults—approximately 149 million consumers—utilize the technology, which creates new content ranging from words and images to video and audio. And while Generation Z may be most familiar with the software’s ability to easily and quickly create engaging cat videos, like this one of a house cat making pasta Bolognese, it is millennials, in their prime working years, who are most satisfied with the technology’s serious applications.1
Fleeting laughs and productive utility aside, everyone reports at least some worry about what the software means for their personal and professional lives. Baby boomers, for their part, have major doubts about the technology’s reliability and privacy. Generation Z, meanwhile, is most concerned about job loss—both their own and others’. Nearly as many consumers do not trust the technology or believe it is open to misuse—just over half and 62%, respectively—as say it’s very useful for accessing information quickly (67%).
These are just some of the findings detailed in “Generation AI: Why Gen Z Bets Big and Boomers Hold Back,” a PYMNTS Intelligence exclusive report. This edition examines different generations’ sentiments around gen AI for personal and professional uses. It draws on insights from a survey of 2,261 U.S. consumers conducted from June 5, 2025, to June 27, 2025.
Younger Generations Use Gen AI for Both Personal and Professional Purposes
Zoomers and zillennials—the bridge generation between Gen Z and millennials who were born between 1991 and 1999—are leading the charge when it comes to integrating the technology into their lives. They are the most familiar with what the software is and how it works, and they use it both at work and for personal reasons. Sometimes, the usage is passive and behind the scenes, like when a consumer shopping online receives targeted product recommendations, tries on clothes virtually and “chats” with an AI-powered shopping assistant.
Nearly two in three zoomers say they are very or extremely familiar with gen AI platforms. Fifty-three percent of zillennials and 46% of millennials indicate the same. By contrast, less than one-quarter of Generation X consumers and just 5.3% of baby boomers report high levels of familiarity. Younger consumers shape the future of how the technology is utilized in day-to-day life, making them a bellwether of what’s to come with other consumers.
These younger consumers are integrating gen AI into both their workdays and their personal lives. Approximately two in three zoomers and zillennials use the technology for both personal and professional purposes. Only 37% of Generation X consumers and 10% of boomers do the same. While 15% of consumers overall use gen AI solely for personal purposes, hardly anyone uses it just for work.
One in Three Gen AI Users Worries About Job Loss
Businesses are already using gen AI to help power customer service, write computer code, design new products, conduct market research, draft reports, automate repetitive tasks like hiring and training and create marketing and advertising campaigns. Freelancers in particular are more than twice as likely as other workers to use the technology for work, according to the World Economic Forum.
But the bulk of consumers who turn to the software for personal tasks, such as building a grocery shopping list, or for professional purposes like composing emails, are far from thinking gen AI is unequivocally the greatest thing since the personal computer. One in three gen AI users are worried it will replace jobs—a not-unfounded concern for creative industry professionals in particular, from graphic designers and actors to fashion models and musical composers. Even more consumers worry about the software sharing or misusing personal information—like for “deepfakes” that con investors or seek to dent political campaigns—and “hallucinating” factually incorrect outputs, like the Philadelphia Inquirer’s recent list of non-existent summer books. If McDonald’s faulty AI prompt can automatically order 260 chicken McNuggets for two customers, why have unfettered trust, the thinking seems to go.
Concerns about the use of gen AI span generations.
One big finding in the PYMNTS Intelligence data is that despite the near-ubiquity of gen AI for entertainment and productivity both at work and at home, consumers are highly cognizant of the risks. Older generations of gen AI users have the most concerns. Nearly half of baby boomers utilizing the technology express concerns about privacy, misleading answers and questionable primary sources of information the software generates.
Gen Z users, for their part, are the most worried about job loss. This disproportionate concern may be because these younger users hold or are applying for the types of entry-level jobs that the technology can most easily replace. More than half of the tasks performed by market research analysts and sales representatives could eventually be automated, Bloomberg found in late 2024. PYMNTS Intelligence found that nearly four in 10 Gen Zers fear being replaced by the software.
Reasons for refusing to use the software vary considerably depending on a consumer’s age. For baby boomers, the youngest of whom first met the internet in their late 30s, it’s a matter of exposure. More than four in 10 boomer non-users cite their lack of familiarity with the technology as the reason they don’t use it. Additionally, 38% cite privacy concerns. For Gen Z non-users, hesitations relate less to trust and more to impact. Specifically, 40% worry that the technology may cause people to lose their jobs. It seems that the perspective of this generation, which has never known a world without the internet, is shaped more by a systemic impact view—how will gen AI affect others’ lives and livelihoods?—than by worries about personal risk.
Millennials Lead in Using Gen AI to Boost Productivity
Millennials use gen AI more than any other generation to increase their productivity, both at home and at work. They also have the most positive beliefs about gen AI’s ability to do so.
Fifty-two percent of millennials use gen AI for work-related purposes, such as conducting market research or summarizing a long Slack thread. This is a far greater share than zoomers, Generation X or boomers.
Older consumers, who may be in retirement and out of the workforce, may not need gen AI for work. Still, across generations, work tasks are among the most common uses of gen AI, followed by creative tasks and education. Meanwhile, those who haven’t adopted gen AI imagine using it in their daily routines outside of work, most commonly for shopping or driving directions.
Millennials are the most likely to believe in gen AI’s ability to boost efficiency and productivity, whether at work or in their personal lives. Nearly seven in 10 millennials say the technology is very useful for accessing information quickly. More than two in three say it’s very useful for editing text. Moreover, 61% say they can accomplish more, faster, when they use gen AI. Yet even among millennials, concerns about job loss and misuse remain high, underscoring that growing adoption doesn’t mean blind trust or complete comfort.
It makes sense that, given millennials’ disproportionately positive sentiments about gen AI’s productivity-boosting potential, they are also the most satisfied with the technology. More than seven in 10 millennial users are very or extremely satisfied with gen AI tools. Only 6.5% report being slightly or not at all satisfied.
But gratification is high across generations. More than six in 10 users overall are highly satisfied, and just 11% report little to no satisfaction. The fact that contentment is so pronounced amid widespread concerns indicates that users are finding real value in the technology despite their concerns.
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Methodology
“Generation AI: Why Gen Z Bets Big and Boomers Hold Back” is based on a survey of 2,261 U.S. consumers conducted from June 5, 2025, to June 27, 2025. The report examines different generations’ sentiments around gen AI for personal and professional uses. Population weights based on the U.S. census are used to ensure the analysis is representative of the U.S. adult population.
1. PYMNTS Intelligence uses the following birth years and age ranges for generational cohorts: baby boomers: born in 1964 or earlier and turning age 61 or older in 2025; Generation X: born between 1965 and 1980 and turning 45–60; millennials: born between 1981 and 1996 and turning 29–44; bridge millennials: born between 1978 and 1988 and turning 37–47; zillennials: born between 1991 and 1999 and turning 26–34; and Generation Z: born in 1997 or later and turning 28 or younger.↩
