The PYMNTS Intelligence report “Generation AI: Why Gen Z Bets Big and Boomers Hold Back” examines how 2,261 U.S. consumers use and perceive generative AI as the technology is increasingly embedded in everyday life.
While headlines often focus on Generation Z’s comfort with emerging tools, the broader narrative is one of uneven adoption shaped by employment patterns, experience with digital systems, and trust in new technology. The data shows that AI’s value proposition depends on who is using it and for what purpose.
Across the population, 57% of adults now use generative AI, equal to roughly 149 million people. Young consumers lean on the technology for personal and professional tasks, while older ones are more selective and more skeptical.
Millennials, in the prime of their working years, stand out as the group most likely to view the tools as a productivity engine. Boomers, meanwhile, worry most about privacy and reliability. Despite appearing the most digitally fluent, Gen Z reports the highest concern about job displacement. These differences underscore that adoption is not a straight line from young to old, but a function of context and need.
Key data points include:
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- Nearly 2 in 3 zoomers and zillennials, the bridge generation between Gen Z and millennials who were born between 1991 and 1999, use generative AI for personal and professional tasks, compared with 37% of Generation X and only 10% of baby boomers.
- One in three consumers who use generative AI fear it will replace jobs, and nearly 4 in 10 Gen Z users worry they personally could be displaced.
- More than 7 in 10 millennial users report being very or extremely satisfied with generative AI tools, the highest among all generations, while over 6 in 10 express high satisfaction.
Beyond these topline findings, the report surfaces several additional themes that illustrate the complexity of this technological shift. For older consumers, the barrier is not just distrust but unfamiliarity. More than 4 in 10 boomers who do not use generative AI cite lack of exposure as the primary reason. Privacy concerns follow. Younger non-users, however, are less deterred by trust and more by a sense that the tools may reshape labor markets in ways that affect others, not just themselves.
The report also highlights how consumers use generative AI in practice. Across all groups, work tasks such as drafting messages, conducting research or automating administrative activities are common uses. Creative tasks and educational assistance follow.
While retail settings have quietly embedded the technology through digital try-ons, recommendation engines and conversational service tools, many consumers who have not yet adopted generative AI imagine experimenting first with daily routines like shopping or navigation.
Satisfaction levels are high across age groups despite these concerns. The report points out that the gap between enthusiasm and unease is not evidence of blind optimism. Rather, it reflects that consumers are finding real value even as they remain alert to the risks.
With privacy fears, misinformation and potential job displacement weighing on the public, the adoption curve is likely to continue evolving as the technology becomes more visible and more regulated.
The generational divide around generative AI use is not simply a story about who embraces innovation fastest. It is a preview of how a technology that now spans entertainment, productivity and everyday errands will continue to reshape expectations across the economy.
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