One in 20 UK adults now pays for an AI assistant

A paper by Datta, Lambert and Schneider (2026) finds that 5.1% of UK adults paid for an AI assistant in June 2026, up from 2.3% a year earlier, based on bank payment records weighted to represent UK adults. Claude's share of AI subscription spending rose from 7% in December 2025 to 29% in July 2026, while ChatGPT's fell from 73.5% to 52.5%, and total AI spending in July 2026 was £1,600 per 1,000 adults, or about £1.07 billion a year at that rate. Adoption varies widely, with adults aged 20 to 29 5.9 times as likely as those 60 and over to have paid for AI, London leading at 78.5 paid users per 1,000 adults against a UK rate of 50.6, and IT professionals highest among occupations at 20.3%.