Is there an AI class divide? New data shows low income, non-university educated, older & regional Australians risk being left behind
New data shows a widening “AI divide” in Australia with people on lower incomes, non-university educated, those living in regional and rural areas, as well as older Australians, significantly less likely to use AI and see its benefits.
The DemosAU report titled, “The AI Gap: A Demographic Analysis of AI utilisation in Australia and who’s being left behind” found 36% of Australians say they never use AI, while only 14% use it daily.
Among Australians earning under $45,000 p.a., nearly half (48%) say they never use AI, compared to 10% for people earning $125,000+ p.a. Only 8% report using it daily compared to 35% of those earning $125k+ p.a.
Australians whose highest education is school are far less likely to be frequent users, with 44% saying they never use AI and only 8% using it daily. Among university-educated Australians, 25% use AI daily.
In regional and rural Australia, only 7% report using AI daily, while 42% say they never use it. In inner metropolitan areas, 22% use AI daily and 29% never use it.
Age is also another factor with a majority (54%) aged over 55 reporting they never use AI.
DemosAU Head of Research George Hasanakos said the data showed many Australians were not engaged with the “AI revolution”.
“This is not just a technology story — it’s an equity story,” he said.
“We can see that those on lower incomes, those with non-university education levels, those in regional areas, and older Australians are far less likely to be regular AI users.
“With AI becoming a fast-growing technology that is being used in everyday life, we could see a class divide between those who are able to utilise, and benefit from, AI, and those who aren’t.
The most common use of AI was for online searches, followed by AI chatbots, professional correspondence and writing, document creation, content creation and online shopping research.
The vast majority of Australians (71%) said they had concerns about AI, with job displacement (27%), data privacy and security (20%), misinformation (12%), trust (9%) and regulation and control (9%) the most cited.
Amongst different education levels, concerns about job displacement was highest amongst those with a high school education level (32%), compared to those with a TAFE qualification (25%) or a university degree (21%).
“We can see from the data that those who most report not using AI as much are the cohorts most concerned about job displacement,” Mr Hasanakos said.
Australians on higher incomes and university-level education were more likely to report that AI will make their job or business easier or more productive.
For example, 46% of university-educated Australians said it will make their job easier and more productive compared to 27% of school-level educated Australians.
For those earning over $125,000 p.a., 58% reported AI would make their job/business more easier and productive compared to only 22% of those earning under $45,000 p.a.
“Men were also more likely to be open to the benefits of of AI, with 43% reporting it will make their job/business more easier and productive compared to 26% of females who seemed more skeptical.”
A total of 66% of Australians were not planning to do any AI-related training or courses in the next 12 months.
Mr Hasanakos said the report’s findings posed greater questions for government, organisations and policy-makers.
“More and more it seems AI is becoming a core part of work, learning, and even interacting with everyday life.
“But we can see from the data that there’s a big cohort of Australians being left behind.
“This is a challenge that governments, policy-makers and other businesses and organisations need to be aware of.”
About this report
The poll of 1,027 Australians was conducted via internet panels from 5 to 6 January 2026 with an effective margin of error of +/- 4.0%.
Please see our report for more information.
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