Jun 27, 2026
OpenAI’s ChatGPT sparked a frenzy when it launched in late 2022, touching off an arms race among tech giants. Since then, companies including OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, Meta and Microsoft have poured billions of dollars into AI models, assistants and tools designed to help users write emails, answer questions, plan trips, analyze documents and even serve as personal assistants.
The technology has inspired both enthusiasm and skepticism. Some users now rely on AI every day for work, school and personal tasks. Others remain wary of its tendency to make mistakes, have concerns about privacy or simply don’t see enough value to justify paying for it.
Advertisement
That divide may help explain a surprising finding from a new Bank of America Institute report: Despite the intense hype surrounding AI, only about 3% of households currently pay for AI services.
Thanks for subscribing!
Read the best of Moneywise in 5 minutes or less.
By signing up, you accept Moneywise Terms of Use, Subscription Agreement, and Privacy Policy.
Most Americans still aren’t paying for AI
According to Bank of America payments data, approximately 3% of households paid for AI services in 2026, spending a median of $20 per month as of February. While adoption remains relatively low, participation is growing quickly. The number of households making AI-related payments was up 38% compared to the 2024 average.
The report suggests consumers are most willing to pay when AI saves time, simplifies decisions or combines multiple tasks into one service. Shopping for electronics and planning vacations ranked among the most common consumer uses for AI-powered tools.
Most paying customers are still spending relatively modest amounts. Roughly 60% of AI subscribers spend $20 or less per month, though spending appears to be rising. The share of households spending between $21 and $40 monthly on AI services has increased 50% since 2024, while 7% of AI-paying households now spend more than $100 per month.
Not surprisingly, higher-income households are the most likely to pay for AI services. Households earning more than $125,000 account for the largest share of AI subscribers, though Bank of America found spending growth was strongest among households earning between $75,000 and $125,000, suggesting adoption may be spreading beyond early adopters.
Age also plays a role. Gen Z and younger millennials were more likely to pay for AI services than older millennials and Gen X consumers, according to the report.
Even so, Bank of America concluded that AI subscriptions remain far from mainstream. In a CivicScience survey cited by the report, 37% of respondents said none of AI’s common uses were practical or helpful in their everyday lives.
Advertisement
Must Read
- The ultra-rich use these 5 real estate strategies to build wealth while they sleep — you can start with just $100
- Here’s the average income of Americans by age in 2026. Are you keeping up or falling behind?
- Insurance companies profit most from drivers who auto-renew without shopping around. Comparing 100+ quotes takes 2 minutes and costs nothing
Join 250,000+ readers and get Moneywise’s best stories and exclusive interviews first — clear insights curated and delivered weekly. Subscribe now.
AI has become mainstream, paying for AI hasn’t
The gap between how consumers view AI and how the industry’s leaders view it may be wider than ever.
While Bank of America found that only about 3% of households currently pay for AI services, executives at the companies building the technology are envisioning a future where AI becomes a utility that consumers use every day.
In March, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said eventually consumers will pay for AI based on usage. “We see a future where intelligence is a utility like electricity or water and people buy it from us on a meter,” Altman said.
OpenAI currently offers ChatGPT Plus for $20 per month, but it also sells ChatGPT Pro for $200 per month, which provides expanded access to its most advanced models and tools.
Advertisement
Those higher-priced offerings reflect a challenge facing AI companies: the technology is expensive to build and operate. As firms race to develop more powerful AI systems, they are spending billions of dollars on data centers, chips and computing infrastructure.
Anthropic, the maker of Claude, has signed a series of agreements to secure additional computing capacity and recently raised funding at a valuation approaching $1 trillion, underscoring how much money is flowing into the sector.
Yet consumers have been slower to open their wallets. Bank of America’s research found that the median AI-paying household spends just $20 per month, and more than one-third of consumers surveyed by CivicScience said none of AI’s common use cases were particularly practical or helpful in their everyday lives.
That may help explain why many AI companies are increasingly finding their biggest customers in the business world rather than among ordinary consumers. Reuters reported that Anthropic’s rapid growth has been driven largely by demand for its enterprise AI tools, particularly products aimed at software developers and workplace productivity.
For now, investors are valuing AI companies as though artificial intelligence will eventually become as essential as internet service, electricity or a smartphone. The latest consumer spending data suggests, meanwhile, that most Americans still see it as an optional subscription.
You May Also Like
- JP Morgan sees gold hitting $6,000/oz before 2027 — and a Gold IRA lets you hold the physical metal while deferring the tax bill. Get your free guide from Priority Gold
- Dave Ramsey warns nearly 50% of Americans are making 1 big Social Security mistake — here’s what it is and the simple steps to fix it ASAP
- Thanks to Jeff Bezos, you can now become a landlord for as little as $100 — and no, you don't have to deal with tenants or fix freezers. Here's how
- Millionaires under 43 are reshaping investing — just 25% of their portfolios are in stocks. Here’s where their money is going
Clay Halton is an associate editor at Money.ca, covering a wide range of consumer-focused financial stories. He has over eight years of experience in digital publishing and has written and edited for outlets including PCMag and Investopedia.
