Digital Barometer 2026 (Arcep / CREDOC)

Summary

• 86% of the French population has a fixed internet subscription, a rate practically stable for 6 years.p.7
• Among the 91% of smartphone owners, 61% have a 5G-compatible phone (+13 points in a year).p.8
• 64% of generative AI users use it at least once a week.p.16
• 63% of generative AI users have mainly used ChatGPT.p.17
• Trust in AI rose by 4 points, but distrust (52%) still dominates.p.23
• 90% of internet users use social networks and video-sharing platforms.p.41
• 80% of platform users think algorithms can show them false or misleading content.p.43

Key insights

1. 86% of the population uses instant messaging services and 64% use them daily.p.13
2. 51% of generative AI users use at least two generative AI services.p.17
3. For information search, search engines (59%) are still used twice as much as generative AI (28%).p.18
4. Generative AI is already preferred for text writing and translation (49%) and content creation (49%).p.18
5. Users praise generative AI for time savings (41%) and ergonomics (33%).p.19
6. Lack of trust in data use or answers (30%) is the main reason for not using generative AI.p.20
7. Only 11% of French people say they are very competent with generative AI tools.p.24