While British Adults Are Less Active on Social Media, More Than Half Now Rely on AI Tools

ChatGPT is one of many AI bots operating in Britain. Getty Images

While British adults are less active on social media, more than half now use AI tools, a new report from the U.K.’s media regulator has found.

In research published Thursday, Ofcom assesses how Brits use, understand, and feel about the media and online services they interact with in their daily lives. The company tracked trends in the U.K.’s media habits and online behaviours over the last year. At a time when trust in the mainstream media is waning and AI looms large, the numbers are telling.

The report found that U.K. adults are officially less active on social media, favoring “limited lifespan over permanent posts.” Social media use remains widespread, with nine in 10 adult internet users (89 percent) using at least one social media platform, and this rises to 97 percent among 16–34-year-olds.

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But the research also suggests that social media use is becoming more passive and circumspect — around half of adult social media users (49 percent) now actively post, share, or comment — down from 61 percent in 2024. The proportion exploring new websites fell from 70 percent to 56 percent during the same period. Ofcom found that participants expressed being more selective about what and how they post on social media, with more adults concerned about their online posts causing them problems in the future (49 percent versus 43 percent a year ago).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, more than half (54 percent) of U.K. adults now use AI tools, such as ChatGPT, Copilot, or Gemini, and this is particularly driven by younger adults. Around one in eight AI users said they use these tools for conversational purposes, rising to around one in five for those aged 25 to 34.

“Some participants in our qualitative study appear to be interacting with AI as if it were a person, often unconsciously,” Ofcom added. “In some cases, they reported using AI to seek relationship breakup advice or to keep them company when working from home. AI is also being used for creative tasks, including room layout planning, wedding speech writing, and creating artwork.”

Trust in news sources continues to be mixed and increasingly divided. Most adults (85 percent) say they use mainstream media for news, but trust varies, according to the research. Around one in five adults say they always trust the mainstream media to be accurate, although a similar proportion always question its accuracy.

And while a majority of these participants consider the main broadcast media brands — such as BBC News, ITV News, and Sky News — to be the most trustworthy sources for news stories about U.K. politics or conflict overseas, “a few” are deeply mistrustful of mainstream media, preferring to access their news from independent content creators and citizen journalists on YouTube. “Both groups seem to be becoming more entrenched in their views,” states the findings.

On this note, for participants in Ofcom’s qualitative study, YouTube has predominantly been used to access content related to their personal interests. From the latest wave of research, however, it now seems to serve a broader range of viewing tastes and needs. These include “background” viewing — sometimes as a replacement for daytime TV — and videos about a host of random and eclectic topics. For some male participants, YouTube is now their main or only form of viewing.

Major screen time concerns were highlighted in the report, too: The proportion of online adults who feel the benefits of being online outweigh the risks fell to 59 percent, down from 72 percent last year. Fewer social media users also say that social media platforms are good for their mental health (36 percent, down from 42 percent). Two-thirds of those surveyed admitted to spending too much time on their devices.

The Adults’ Media Use and Attitudes Tracker is a quantitative survey of 7,533 U.K. adults aged over 16. Fieldwork was carried out from September to November 2025.