New research released by Oysterly Media says otherwise. Millennials use AI more, trust it more, and are more commercially active with it. Gen Z, meanwhile, has become the most sceptical cohort of all. The report, “The Changing Landscape of Discovery and Trust”, released today by Oysterly Media, and conducted by Oysterly Media and Oaktree Insights and Consulting, surveyed 1,200 Australians and found that Millennials are the most commercially engaged AI generation: Almost two thirds( 64%) already use AI tools to search, compare or make sense of options, compared with 56.8 per cent of Gen Z and 41.9 per cent of Gen X. Millennials are also the most likely to act on AI outputs, with 68.3 per cent saying they trust AI when sources are clearly shown, compared with 58.1 per cent overall and just 45.3 per cent of Gen X. Gen Z tells a different story. Despite being the second highest users of AI, they are the most likely of any generation to name AI assistants as their least trusted source of information as Melissa Laurie, CEO of Oysterly Media explained “Most people assume Gen Z are leading the AI charge. The data tells a more nuanced story. Gen Z have never known a world without algorithmic feeds, targeted ads and optimised content to get their attention. That experience builds a different kind of media literacy. They’ve learned to interrogate what they’re being shown and why. It makes sense they would bring that same scrutiny to AI.”
Gen Z’s relationship with AI is the most polarised across all respondents. Almost a fifth of them (19.2%) say AI assistants are their most trusted source when researching products and services. But a larger proportion (27.8%) say AI assistants are their least trusted source, the widest gap between most and least trusted of any demographic in the research.
“Growing up online didn’t make Gen Z more trusting. It made them more skeptical of everyone trying to reach them. They’ve developed finely tuned filters for what feels authentic and what doesn’t,” says Melissa. “For them, AI doesn’t pass that test yet. They are using it, but they’re also watching it closely. Brands that assume Gen Z will simply follow the AI trends are misreading the room.”
Across all generations, Australians are clear about what they think AI is good for. Nearly three quarters (74.6%) agree that AI summaries can save time but can also miss important details. Only 6.5 per cent say they would start a product search with an AI assistant, while only 3.3 per cent would start with an AI summary. The commercial implications go further. Almost 80 per cent of respondents (77.8%) say it’s getting harder to tell what is genuinely independent versus what is sponsored, while 70.5 per cent are worried ads or sponsorship will influence AI recommendations. A further 61.2 per cent say they would trust AI less if ads started appearing inside answers.
“AI has a trust problem it hasn’t earned its way out of yet. Australians will use it for speed, but the moment it feels like a paid feed, they’re gone. That’s not a technical problem. That’s a credibility problem,” says Melissa.
Importantly, all generations seemed in sync on the need for transparency. More than eight in ten respondents (81.5%) believe AI-generated images and videos should be clearly labelled (that included 76.9% of Gen Z, 82.3% of Millennials and 84.6% of Gen X.) These findings are consistent with a broader picture of Australian AI scepticism. A 2025 global study by KPMG and the University of Melbourne found that only 36 per cent of Australians said they are willing to trust AI applications, placing Australia among the lowest-ranking countries globally on AI trust despite half the population using it regularly. The Medianet 2026 Australian Media Landscape Report also found that 93% of journalists now express concern about AI’s impact on journalistic integrity, up from 88% the previous year.
“Transparency isn’t a differentiator anymore. It’s a baseline,” Melissa says. “Australians across every generation are saying they expect AI content to be labelled, sources to be shown, and commercial influence to be disclosed. The organisations that build those safeguards in now will be the best ones placed to earn durable trust.”