Who is behind the UK’s billion-pound AI boom?
Researchers from the University of Warwick and Imperial College London have analysed who is most likely to pay for AI tools like ChatGPT or Claude out of their own pocket.
University of Warwick
Who is most likely to pay for ChatGPT or Claude out of their own pocket? Who Pays for AI?, a new study by economists at University of Warwick and Imperial College London, uses anonymised bank and card transactions to examine the UK’s boom in use of paid AI tools.
The study estimates that 5.1% of UK adults - around 2.8 million people - paid for AI assistants themselves in June 2026, with subscriber numbers roughly doubling each year. UK consumer spending on AI tools has grown from almost nothing in early 2023 to a billion-pound annual market.
Occupations
What people do at work is a key factor in whether they pay for AI out of pocket. Across professions identified subscription rates varied from roughly:
- 20% among IT professionals
- 13–16% among university lecturers and finance professionals,
- 7-9% among school teachers, writers, artists, and doctors,
- under 3% among electricians, nurses, and social care workers.
Claude or ChatGPT?
The research found that ChatGPT remains the market leader, but Claude has gained ground rapidly, increasing its share of subscription spending from 7% to 29% between December 2025 and July 2026. ChatGPT’s share fell from 74% to 53% over the same period.
Claude’s growth also reflects uptake of more expensive plans, particularly among people working in technical and professional roles. Claude has a stronger following among software and IT workers, engineers, finance professionals and academics, while teachers, healthcare workers and HR staff tend to favour ChatGPT.
UK Regions
Londoners are more likely than adults elsewhere in the UK to pay for their own subscription to AI tools like ChatGPT or Claude. In June 2026, an estimated 7.9% of adults living there were estimated to have subscribed, compared with 5.1% nationally. The North East trailed the UK region rankings with 3.8%.
Age, men and women, and income
The study also found that overall:
- under-30s are five times as likely to pay for AI than over-60s,
- men are 27% more likely to subscribe than women,
- the top fifth of earners are almost twice as likely to subscribe than the bottom fifth
Commenting on their results, Dr Peter Lambert from University of Warwick’s Department of Economics said: “Millions of people are now putting their hands into their own pockets to pay for AI every month. In little more than three years, these tools have become a billion-pound consumer market in the UK. This surge has been phenomenal and with only one in twenty adults currently subscribing, there’s still room for further growth. The big question is how many people currently using free AI tools will eventually decide they are worth paying for?”
Dr Nikhil Datta from the University of Warwick’s Department of Economics added: “People whose jobs involve tasks that AI can help with are more likely to pay for it themselves, so that suggests people are buying these tools partly for what they can do for them at work. The first paying customers were disproportionately men and high earners, but that picture is changing rapidly with women now making up nearly half of new subscribers.”
Dr Patrick Schneider from Imperial Business School said: “Like many early-stage markets, the picture can change very quickly. ChatGPT still leads at present, but its early dominance is shrinking. Claude captured almost a third of consumer subscription spending by July, up from just 7% seven months earlier.”
For more information, including the full paper, methods, and interactive charts, visit the Who Pays for AI? website.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Who Pays for AI? is authored by Nikhil Datta (University of Warwick and Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics), Peter John Lambert (University of Warwick and Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics) and Patrick Schneider (Imperial Business School).
The researchers have compared occupations by the estimated share of workers with an active personal AI subscription. They identified occupations using professional membership and registration payments, alongside employer records. The study covers personal payment transactions, not employer-paid licences, business-account payments or free AI use.
For more information please contact:
Ann Baylis, Media and Communications Officer
ann.baylis@warwick.ac.uk | +44 (0) 7425 722087
About the University of Warwick
Founded in 1965, the University of Warwick is a world-leading institution known for its commitment to era-defining innovation across research and education. A connected ecosystem of staff, students and alumni, the University fosters transformative learning, interdisciplinary collaboration and bold industry partnerships across state-of-the-art facilities in the UK and global satellite hubs. Here, spirited thinkers push boundaries, experiment and challenge convention to create a better world.
The ESRC Centre for Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE) was founded in 2010 to examine routes to success for both developed and emerging economies around the world. Since then, the centre has used historical and theoretical economic analysis to integrate the study of history and address real-world policy issues. Based in the department of economics at the University of Warwick, the centre delivers policy-driven economics research informed by culture, history and behaviour. Our research findings have been used by policymakers, journalists, practitioners and the general public to drive policy debate and reform opinion.
About Imperial Business School
Imperial College Business School is the business school of Imperial College London, a public research university specialising in science, technology, engineering, medicine and business (STEMB). Based in the South Kensington district in London, the School blends business education with entrepreneurship and technology innovation to convert pioneering scientific discovery into commercial, societal, and sustainable solutions.
Method of Research
Data/statistical analysis
Subject of Research
People
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