NBER studied U.S. consumer demand for paid generative AI services. 2.9% of consumers pay for at least one major service as of April 2026. Adoption is highest among younger and higher-income users. Nearly all paid users choose basic plans costing $30 or less per month. Multihoming is common but has declined as provider capabilities expanded. Annual customer retention rates range from 20% to 45% across major providers. Switching rises around major model releases. Consumers are highly price sensitive. They have weaker preferences for specific providers than for AI overall. Services are increasingly seen as close substitutes. The study used credit and debit card data covering 174 million consumers. It analyzed 114 billion transactions. The findings suggest strong competitive pressure in the market. Providers’ pricing power may be constrained without greater model differentiation.

• 2.9% of U.S. consumers pay for AI services
• 174M consumers in dataset
• 114B transactions analyzed
• 20-45% annual retention rates