New research from Roy Morgan shows that while AI adoption in Australia is evenly split between men and women overall, Microsoft Copilot’s user base tells a different story: 2.3 million men versus 1.7 million women — a 35% gender gap. The data, drawn from surveys conducted between January and March 2026, also paints Copilot users as higher earners and more likely to work full-time than users of other AI tools.

The numbers behind Australia’s AI boom

Roy Morgan’s latest figures confirm that 13.6 million Australians aged 14 and over — 58% of the population — are now active on at least one AI platform. ChatGPT holds a commanding lead with an estimated 10.5 million users, and its audience is nearly balanced: 5.3 million women and just under 5.2 million men.

But that balance fractures when you look beyond the market leader. Microsoft Copilot has drawn 4 million Australian users, but 57.5% of them are male. Anthropic’s Claude shows an even sharper divide: 459,000 men versus 318,000 women. Google Gemini also leans male, though firm numbers were not released.

The lone platform where women dominate is Canva Magic Studio. Roughly 1.37 million Australians use it, and over 60% — 821,000 — are women, reflecting Canva’s deep roots in design, education, and small-business workflows. “This huge new market has developed quickly,” said Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine, noting that ChatGPT is the undisputed leader but other platforms are carving out valuable niches.

A workplace tool, not a consumer gadget

Copilot’s demographic skew becomes even clearer when you look at employment status and income. According to the Roy Morgan data, 51% of all AI users in Australia are employed full-time, compared with slightly over 40% of the general population. Among Copilot users, that share jumps to 63%. Claude users are at 65%.

In short, Copilot’s audience is heavily tilted toward people who are already working in offices, studios, or remote setups where Microsoft’s ecosystem — Windows, Microsoft 365, Teams — is deeply embedded.

That employment bias shows up in the wallet, too. The median personal income for AI users is A$67,000, well above the A$53,000 median for Australians aged 14 and over. Copilot users report a median income of A$87,000 — 64% higher than the national figure. Their median savings and investments sit at A$281,000, compared with A$149,000 nationally. Claude users are even more affluent on the income side at A$90,000, though their savings are lower at A$240,000.

These correlations don’t mean Copilot or Claude makes you richer. They mean that, right now, these tools are overwhelmingly used by Australians who are already in higher-paying, full-time roles. Students and casual workers — groups that ChatGPT has captured in huge numbers — are not yet gravitating toward Microsoft’s AI assistant.

Who isn’t using Copilot — and why it matters

Students represent 21% of Australia’s AI users, and university students are 27% more likely to use AI than the general population. More than one million university students use ChatGPT. Gemini draws 444,000 students. Copilot? Just 287,000.

For Microsoft, that’s a problem and an opportunity. Copilot is baked into Windows 11, the Edge browser, and Microsoft 365 apps that many students already use. Yet ChatGPT remains the go-to, likely because its free tier is generous and its brand is synonymous with AI for homework help, research, and writing.

Primary and secondary students follow a similar pattern. The Roy Morgan data doesn’t break out K–12 in detail, but the overall student figures suggest that Copilot’s workplace-oriented design — summarising meetings, drafting business emails, analysing spreadsheets — simply isn’t what a 16-year-old needs when they’re preparing for an exam.

What this means for Windows users and IT admins

If you’re an IT administrator managing a fleet of Windows 11 devices or a Microsoft 365 tenant, these numbers should prompt a closer look at your own Copilot rollout.

First, the gender gap. Copilot’s Australian audience is 35% smaller among women than men. In an organisation, that could mean a tool that’s supposed to boost productivity is leaving a large chunk of the workforce behind. Training programmes, internal marketing, and acceptable-use policies should be audited to ensure they’re not inadvertently sidelining any group.

Second, usage patterns. Roy Morgan’s data suggests Copilot is heavily office-focused. If your organisation has frontline or field workers — retail staff, health-care workers, tradespeople — there’s a good chance they aren’t using Copilot at all, even if it’s licensed. Measuring actual adoption through Microsoft 365 usage reports is a cheap and essential first step. Don’t assume that because a licence is assigned, the tool is being used.

Third, data handling. Copilot’s hooks into sensitive workplace data (emails, documents, Teams chats) make it a governance headache if employees start using it without clear guidance. The high-income profile of Copilot users suggests that many are in knowledge-worker roles with access to confidential information. A usage policy that spells out what data can and can’t be fed into Copilot is no longer optional.

For everyday Windows users, the findings are a reminder that Copilot isn’t trying to be all things to all people. Microsoft is clearly targeting the productivity crowd. If you’re a student, a creative, or someone who uses AI for general knowledge, you may find ChatGPT or Canva’s Magic Studio more immediately useful — even though Copilot is just a right-click away in Windows.

How we got here: the rapid march of workplace AI

It’s easy to forget how fast this landscape has moved. ChatGPT launched in November 2022. Microsoft began weaving OpenAI’s models into Bing and Edge in early 2023, then rebranded everything as Copilot by late 2023. Windows 11’s 2023 update put a Copilot icon on the taskbar, and the 2024 “Moment” updates added system-level integration. In January 2025, Microsoft 365 Copilot became generally available for businesses of all sizes.

Australia’s tech-savvy workforce adopted these tools quickly. Roy Morgan’s January-to-March 2026 survey is the first to capture the full demographic picture, and it shows that Copilot has carved out a distinct lane: it’s the white-collar professional’s AI, while ChatGPT remains the populist all-rounder.

That’s not an accident. Microsoft’s marketing has consistently pitched Copilot as a “second brain” for work — summarising email threads, generating PowerPoint decks, analysing Excel data. The tool’s pricing reinforces that. While a basic version is free in Windows, the full-throated Copilot for Microsoft 365 costs US$30 per user per month (or equivalent local pricing), a sum that makes sense only if you’re spending hours a day in Teams and Outlook.

What to do now: practical steps

For IT and business leaders:
- Run a Copilot usage audit in your Microsoft 365 Admin Center. Look at active users, features used, and adoption curves over the past 90 days.
- Segment your workforce. Check whether Copilot use correlates with job role, department, or gender. If you spot gaps, interview non-users to understand barriers.
- Refresh your AI acceptable-use policy. Specify what internal data Copilot can access, and remind staff that prompts may be processed in the cloud.
- Consider targeted training. Microsoft offers adoption materials, but a 30-minute workshop tailored to your organisation’s workflows often works better than generic video links.

For home and student users:
- Know what your installed Copilot actually does. In Windows 11, it can change system settings, answer questions, and generate text. If those aren’t tasks you need, you can hide the icon or disable it via Settings > Personalization > Taskbar.
- If you’re a student, try Copilot’s free tier alongside ChatGPT and Gemini. Compare which one explains concepts in a way you find clearer. Copilot’s integration with Edge might help with research, but ChatGPT’s conversation style may suit longer writing tasks.
- Watch your data. Free Copilot sessions may use your inputs for training, though Microsoft says it doesn’t use business data. If you’re discussing sensitive personal matters, check the privacy settings.

For developers and power users:
- The Copilot API and extensibility features are evolving. If you build tools for professional audiences, Copilot’s high-income user base might make it a valuable platform, but only if your product fits the productivity niche.
- Don’t ignore the female-majority platforms. Canva’s success with Magic Studio shows there is huge demand for AI in design and education. If you’re building AI-powered apps, a gender-blind approach will miss market segments.

Outlook

Roy Morgan’s next quarterly report will be one to watch. The gender gap in Copilot may narrow if Microsoft starts marketing more broadly — or if Windows 12, rumoured for late 2026, brings AI features that appeal beyond the office. The student numbers are a longer-term worry. If ChatGPT continues to embed itself as the “default” for young people, Microsoft risks losing the next generation of professionals before they even enter the workforce.

For now, the data confirms what many in IT have sensed: Copilot is a tool shaped by its enterprise DNA. Whether it can broaden that appeal without losing its productivity edge is the story to follow.