According to a recent survey conducted by the IT industry association Bitkom, free artificial intelligence (AI) offerings are currently dominating in Germany. Only 10% of those who use generative AI are paying for it, with 8% currently using paid AI services and 2% having used them in the past but not anymore. Around a fifth (22%) say they might consider paying for AI services in the future, but the vast majority (62%) have no plans to use paid AI. Overall, two-thirds (67%) of Germans aged 16 and over use generative AI at least occasionally.
On average, those who rely on paid AI spend €16 per month on it. While 17% spend less than €10, 27% spend €10 to 20 and 57% even spend over €20.
Compared to last year, there have been significant changes in the use of generative AI. Text generation remains at the top with 86% and image creation is now almost neck-to-neck. 83% use the AI for image creation, compared to just 53% last year. Video creation ranks third (19%), but it is also used more frequently than in 2024 (9%). Only 12% use AI to create music (2024: 3%).
Bitkom Research conducted the survey from the 11th to the 15th calendar week of 2025, interviewing 1,005 people aged 16 and over in Germany.