AI in Australia 2026: How Australians use AI

KEY POINTS

• 13.6 million Australians use AI tools in an average four weeks. That is 58% of everyone aged 14 and over, and ChatGPT alone reaches 10.5 million.
• 72% of Australian online searchers use AI assistants at least some of the time. Only 16% use AI as their main starting point, so Google is still in the journey.
• AI answers still send people to websites. 78% of shoppers who use AI read the summary and then click through for more detail.
• Businesses are further behind. 43% of SMEs report some use of AI, and the ABS puts workplace AI use at 12% of all businesses.

Artificial intelligence in Australia has gone mainstream. We pulled together the latest AI statistics from Roy Morgan, YouGov, IAB Australia, Adyen, the National AI Centre and the ABS to show how Australians use AI to search, shop and run their businesses in 2026.

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How many Australians use AI?

More than half of us. Roy Morgan surveyed 14,646 Australians between January and March 2026 and found 13.6 million people, or 58% of Australians aged 14 and over, use AI tools in an average four weeks (Roy Morgan, 2026).

AI usage is highest among Australians aged 25 to 49, at 72% to 74%, and lowest among those aged 65 and over, at 31%.

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How many people use ChatGPT in Australia?

ChatGPT is the most used AI tool in Australia, with 10.5 million users, or 45% of Australians aged 14 and over; that is twice as many as Google Gemini.

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How are Australians using AI to search?

AI has become part of how most Australians search, but it hasn't replaced Google. YouGov's 2026 web search and AI report found 72% of Australian online searchers use AI assistants at least some of the time (YouGov, 2026; CX Focus, 2026).

The more telling number is how people fit AI in alongside everything else:

• 36% start at least one search a day with an AI assistant.
• 43% use AI alongside search engines and other platforms.
• 25% turn to AI after checking search engines or other sources first.
• 16% use AI as their main starting point.

Age makes the biggest difference; younger Australians have moved much further in adopting AI into their daily routine.

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Do Australians trust AI answers?

Not fully, and that is good news for anyone with a website. Only 39% of Australian online searchers trust AI-generated information. That rises to 49% among regular AI users, which still leaves half of them unconvinced.

What people do after they read an AI answer matters more than the trust figure. Among Australians who search with AI, 31% click the links the AI provides and 26% check the answer on other websites before they decide. Only 15% stop searching once they have an AI answer. The rest keep going, so the AI answer is a step in the journey, not the end of it.

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How are Australians using AI shopping tools?

Shopping is where AI search turns into revenue. The Adyen Index 2026, run by YouGov with 2,012 Australian consumers in March and April 2026, found 64% have used AI assistants to browse, compare or discover products (Adyen, 2026).

They are far less keen to let AI do the buying. 26% are comfortable with AI completing a purchase, and only 5% are fully comfortable letting it buy on its own.

IAB Australia's Commerce and Discovery Report 2026 surveyed 1,079 Australians who shopped online in the past year (IAB Australia, 2026). It found:

• 6 in 10 online shoppers use AI tools at least sometimes when shopping, rising to 75% of those aged 18 to 39.
• 78% of shoppers who use AI read the AI summary for a quick answer, then click through to websites for more detail.
• 74% of shoppers who use AI treat it as one of several sources, not the only one.
• 69% of online shoppers rely on online research to feel confident before they buy.

The pattern is the same as search; AI helps people narrow down their options, but your website is still where they make the decision.

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How are Australian businesses using AI?

AI adoption in Australia is moving more slowly for businesses than for consumers. The National AI Centre's adoption tracker found 43% of Australian SMEs reported some level of AI adoption between December 2025 and February 2026, rising to 44% in February (National AI Centre, 2026). Content generation and data analytics are the most common uses, each used by 54% of adopters.

Among SMEs not using AI, around 65% say they don't trust AI decision-making or prefer to keep a person in control. 54% say AI isn't relevant to their business, and 19% don't know how to use it.

The ABS measures something narrower: AI used in the workplace. On that measure, around 12% of Australian businesses used AI in 2024–25 (ABS, 2026). The gap between large and small businesses is wide.

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What does this mean for your website?

Your customers are using AI to research, but most of them still end up on a website before they buy. So the question isn't whether AI replaces your website, but whether AI can read your website, and whether it sends people to you or to a competitor.

Many AI crawlers can't run JavaScript, so content that loads that way never reaches them. We covered this in How AI Crawlers Read Websites and Why Your Content Might Be Hidden.

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Want to know how AI sees your brand?

Clearwater is an Australian AI SEO agency. We check how ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI features read and describe your business, then fix what is stopping them from recommending you. Talk to our team and we'll run the check.

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References

Surveys and research

Roy Morgan Research. 13.6 million Australians now use AI tools like ChatGPT, GoogleGemini, Microsoft Copilot, Canva Magic Studio and Claude. Finding No. 10248, 2 June 2026. https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/10248-artificial-intelligence-ai-tools-usage-march-2026

Robbie, L. Searching for answers: How AI is changing online discovery in 2026. YouGov, 8 July 2026. https://yougov.com/reports/55102-au-websearch-ai-report-2026

Adyen. Adyen Index 2026: Australian retailers race ahead on AI, but consumer trust lags at checkout. 21 July 2026. Research conducted by YouGov. https://www.adyen.com/press-and-media/adyen-index-2026-australian-retailers-race-ahead-on-ai

IAB Australia. Stretched budgets, sharper shoppers: Australians research more before they buy (Commerce and Discovery Report 2026). 6 July 2026. https://www.iabaustralia.com.au/news/stretched-budgets-sharper-shoppers-australians-research-more-before-they-buy/

Government and official statistics

Leaver, E. AI adoption insights: December 2025 to February 2026. National AI Centre, 7 May 2026. https://www.ai.gov.au/news-and-insights/blog/ai-adoption-insights-december-2025-february-2026

Australian Bureau of Statistics. Business adoption of Artificial Intelligence accelerates in 2024–25. Media release, 25 June 2026. https://www.abs.gov.au/media-centre/media-releases/business-adoption-artificial-intelligence-accelerates-2024-25

Industry reporting

CX Focus. 72% of Aussies use AI search, but only 16% start there. 13 July 2026. https://cxfocus.com.au/news/72-of-aussies-use-ai-search-but-only-16-start-there/

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