Synthetic intelligence (AI) has reached a tipping level. Individuals have adopted AI at an unprecedented scale, with nearly two billion customers worldwide, in line with an estimate by the US enterprise capital agency Menlo Ventures.
And but, little or no cash is being made, maybe solely $12 billion yearly, with most of that determine accounted for by OpenAI.
(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET’s guardian firm, filed an April 2025 lawsuit towards OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in coaching and working its AI programs.)
The distinction between the big variety of customers and the small quantity being earned constitutes “one of many largest and fastest-emerging monetization gaps in latest client tech historical past,” mentioned Menlo Ventures.
The report, “2025: The state of client AI,” written by Shawn Carolan, Amy Wu, C.C. Gong, Sam Borja, with unspecified assist from Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet massive language mannequin, is predicated on a survey performed within the US in April for Menlo Ventures by the agency Morning Seek the advice of, with the participation of 5,031 US adults.
The survey discovered that 61% of US adults had used AI within the prior six months, and “practically one in 5 depend on it daily.”
The Menlo Ventures crew extrapolated these US-based figures to conclude that as many as 1.8 billion individuals have used AI instruments globally, with as many as 600 million individuals “participating each day” with AI. The researchers adjusted international figures to account for worldwide variance in web entry and age distribution, and variance in AI adoption charges by area.
On the similar time, the crew extrapolated monetary figures primarily based on media studies suggesting OpenAI is producing $10 billion in income per yr, with “roughly 800 million month-to-month energetic customers” and a ChatGPT Plus subscription worth of $20 per 30 days, implying roughly 5% of customers pay for premium entry.
General, solely 3% of persons are paying to make use of consumer-grade AI choices, they famous — “a strikingly low conversion price.”
The that means of that disparity between utilization and paying for issues is that there’s a massive “white house,” the authors mentioned. That house is a chance to construct issues that folks will gravitate towards, and for which they could even pay.
The authors recognized “5 classes of each day life” during which AI is most used. These classes embody “19% of US adults use AI to assist write emails,” whereas “one other 18% depend on it to handle to-do lists.”
These are comparatively low charges of adoption, they noticed, which suggests to the authors, once more, that there’s house for brand new services and products.
“AI is beneficial in all places, however there’s nonetheless an extended technique to go to on a regular basis adoption, signaling alternative for brand new merchandise to transform informal use earlier than each day behavior is locked in,” the report mentioned.
No shock, there is a greater share for sure actions amongst those that are common AI customers. For instance, those that “routinely interact in a particular exercise” have a tendency to hold out the duty of “creating photographs” by 34%.
In reality, the “inventive” class of AI use, together with picture creation, is turning into a must have for AI customers. These creativity-focused duties additionally current a possibility for brand new services and products.
“The inventive class is more and more AI-native; it is the place shoppers most frequently undertake specialised instruments and present the next willingness to pay,” the report mentioned.
“Because it turns into simpler to provide polished content material, style — the human eye for what is sweet, contemporary, or attention-grabbing — turns into the important thing differentiator.”
The report continued: “With new picture and video fashions rising continuously, customers care much less about which device they use and focus extra on the way to management, edit, and refine what AI generates.”
The authors cited some newer instruments with AI capabilities, equivalent to Higgsfield and Suno, that “have seen explosive income progress as customers willingly pay for picture technology, audio manufacturing, and superior design.”
On the different finish of the spectrum, bodily and psychological well being help and administration are among the many least-used roles for AI. Amongst US adults, solely 14% use AI to analysis well being matters, out of a complete of 71% of respondents who typically analysis well being matters.
And out of the 46% for whom monitoring diet is a daily behavior, solely 11% use AI for the duty.
“[T]hese numbers paint a stark image: Bodily and psychological well being actions present among the lowest AI adoption charges amongst US adults,” the authors wrote. “The bar is excessive for options that deal with extremely private info and contact on delicate matters. On this area, belief is the actual frontier.”
Nonetheless, the crew concluded that, as soon as once more, that hole is a chance.
“Firms that mix AI’s knowledge intelligence with trusted human care groups are greatest positioned to earn affected person belief, match insurance coverage fashions, and scale high-quality care.”
The survey additionally included attention-grabbing factors on the age breakdown of AI use. It revealed that Millennials are the highest each day customers of AI, greater than Gen Z customers, which appeared to have stunned the authors.
“Whereas Gen Z (ages 18-28) leads general AI adoption as anticipated, Millennials (ages 29-44) emerge as energy customers, reporting extra each day utilization — flipping the standard ‘youthful = greater utilization’ sample.”
Also, mother and father become “the surprising energy customers,” which is “one of the crucial stunning” findings, the authors mentioned.
Greater than three-quarters (79%) of fogeys use AI commonly, versus 54% of non-parents. The analysis steered mother and father are “turning to AI for on a regular basis assist,” particularly Millennial mother and father, who’re “of their prime working years.”
The highest duties accomplished by mother and father utilizing AI are “studying/understanding new matters” (28%), “taking and organizing notes” (26%), and “managing childcare” (34%).
General, utilization rises, on common, as mother and father’ kids develop up, which is reflective of accelerating complexity in mother and father’ lives, one more space of alternative, the authors concluded.
“The adoption patterns we see amongst mother and father present that client AI adoption follows life-stage complexity extra than simply age or revenue,” they wrote.
“This factors to an adoption curve formed by high-friction ‘life moments’ that savvy firms can goal as wedges to construct lasting habits.”
