Customers are three times more likely to use a third-party generative AI tool than a brand-owned chatbot for customer service, according to a Gartner survey of more than 3,500 B2B and B2C customers. The number of consumers using third-party generative AI tools has doubled in the past year alone, said Eric Keller, senior director analyst at Gartner, while there has been no statistical increase in customers using company-provided chatbots since 2022. Two-thirds of consumers use generative AI in their personal life, work or both, but most usage is among third-party tools. Keller noted that customers increasingly trust tools like ChatGPT and Claude, which they use daily, over brand chatbots they use infrequently. Gartner found that 58% of customers have used generative AI to complete a task, and nearly three-quarters of B2B customers have used it to accomplish a task. Keller advised that brands need intentional adoption strategies, as simply adding AI to an existing chatbot is unlikely to drive more engagement if customers are not already using it.