A Taiwan Fair Trade Commission (TFTC) survey found 76.7% of respondents using free AI plans said a hypothetical quality drop would prompt them to switch to another free service.
Conducted by phone from May 6-28, 2026, the poll covered adults in Taiwan’s 22 cities and counties. The TFTC said it made 21,967 mobile calls and completed 2,136 interviews; 1,079 respondents reported using generative AI during the preceding six months. That makes 50.5% a share of completed interviews, not a measure of all Taiwanese adults.
ChatGPT received 56.6% of primary-tool selections, while Gemini received 34.6%, giving the pair 91.2% combined. Respondents could name multiple services in a separate question about tools they had used, so these figures describe the primary tool they selected.
Of the 1,079 AI users, 429 (39.8%) reported paid-tier use, and 650 (60.2%) used free tiers. Among paid users, 69.7% said they paid themselves and 23.5% named an employer or company; multiple answers were allowed for the payer question. Another 50.2% reported monthly spending of NT$500 to less than NT$1,000.
The survey also tested hypothetical changes. If the quality of their main free tool declined, 76.7% of free-tier users said they would switch to a different free AI service; 15.5% said they would upgrade, while 5.7% said they would stop using AI. In a separate scenario, 76.3% of paid users said they would keep their subscription after a one-time 10% price rise.
Among free-tier users, 89.5% cited the free service being sufficient as a reason for not paying, while 12.6% pointed to not wanting to pay from their own funds. Learning or gaining knowledge (56.5%) and work (55%) were common reported uses. Function fit led the reasons for choosing a main service (47.2%); 25.1% said they continued with their first AI tool out of habit.
The survey follows a March 2026 TFTC competition policy report on generative AI that addressed supply-side issues. The commission said this survey examined consumer choices and how users might react to changes in price or service quality. It said it will track provider pricing approaches and usage limits on free and paid plans.
