Paying for AI: only 4.5% do, and what it means for your brand

Hardly anyone is paying for AI, even though almost everyone uses it. According to a16z's October 2026 report, only 4.5% of the US consumers analysed pay for ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude. For your brand, this has a clear consequence: your customers see the free version.

How many people are paying for AI in 2026?

Very few, though it's growing fast. a16z, an investment firm, uses data from YipitData, which analyses purchase receipts from a group of consumers. In August 2026, 4.5% had a paid personal subscription to ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude.

A year earlier it was 2.1%, so the figure has more than doubled. Even so, more than 95 in 100 people in that group pay for none of the three.

What it means: the vast majority use AI for free. What to do: when you check what AI says about your brand, use the free version. Why: it's the one almost all your audience sees.

Rule of thumb: the AI your customers see is the free one.

How much do ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude subscribers spend a month?

Not much, except for a few. Half of paying users spend $25 a month or less, and that figure has barely risen over time. By contrast, the top 1% of spenders pay $903 a month on average.

That 1% accounts for 19.5% of all observed spending. That's more than the half who pay least spend combined.

What it means: there are two very different audiences. A majority who use AI for free or almost free, and a minority who use it heavily, often for work. What to do: think about which one you sell to.

What does it mean for your brand that hardly anyone pays for AI?

If hardly anyone pays, free AI has to be funded some other way. OpenAI already shows ads on its Free and Go plans, including in 31 European markets since late August 2026. The Plus plan has none. We explain it in our analysis of ChatGPT ads.

On top of that, according to Kantar, 32% of consumers already use AI assistants to research brands. We cover it in how much to invest in AI in 2027. In other words: lots of people ask AI about brands, and nearly all of them do it for free.

At Garcai we think this changes how you should check a brand. If hardly anyone pays, the free version is the shop window that matters, and that's where to look first.

Rule of thumb: check your brand where your customers are, not where you are.

The Garcai method: see what free AI says about your brand in 5 steps

It takes half an hour a month. No technical knowledge required.

1. Open ChatGPT and Gemini in a private window, without your paid account. It's the closest thing to what your customers see.
2. Ask the way a customer would: ‘Which [your product] do you recommend in [your city]?’
3. Note whether you appear, in what position and which competitors show up.
4. Repeat the same questions once a month and save the answers in a spreadsheet.
5. If you sell to professionals, repeat it with a paid version too. People who pay often use AI for work.

You can do it yourself: all five steps, with a spreadsheet.

Ask your tech team if you want to share the work. Ready-to-send message: ‘Could you ask free ChatGPT and Gemini about our category every month and note whether we appear?’

Common mistakes when checking your brand in free AI

• Checking your brand only with your paid version of AI.
• Assuming that if people don't pay, they don't use AI.
• Reading the 4.5% as a worldwide figure: it comes from a group of US consumers.
• Forgetting that the free version already carries ads, including your competitors'.
• Not repeating the questions every month: the answers change.
• Not knowing how to improve what AI says about you: start with our guide to showing up in ChatGPT.

Few people pay for AI, but many use it to decide what to buy. At Garcai we believe the brands that check the free version first will have the edge. So check your brand in the free version every month. And remember: the AI your customers see is the free one.