Gallup poll found Americans most worried about artificial intelligence

Americans Least Optimistic About AI Benefits

A Gallup poll released Wednesday found that only 36 percent of Americans are optimistic artificial intelligence will improve their lives. In contrast, 93 percent of Chinese respondents surveyed expressed optimism that the technology will greatly improve their own daily lives.

Among those aware of AI, 74 percent of Americans reported feeling very worried, the overall highest level in the survey. This figure was followed by the Netherlands at 67 percent, Canada at 64 percent, and Britain at 63 percent respectively.

Adults in the United States were among just three national groups surveyed where negative responses about AI outweighed positive ones, alongside Egypt and the Palestinian territories.

Gallup senior scientist Pablo Diego-Rosell, who oversaw the poll, said in an interview that the United States is clearly the overall most worried country for sure.

The United States ranked overall fourteenth in regular daily AI use, behind countries including Singapore, China, Canada, and Britain, according to the recent Gallup global survey.

Growing Public Concern Over AI Safety Practices

A separate poll of 1,277 American adults found that 73 percent are concerned artificial intelligence companies have not done enough to prevent serious harm to society.

The poll found that 39 percent believed AI was having a negative impact on society, up from 36 percent previous month. This marked the overall highest level recorded, while only 11 percent said AI was having a positive impact on society.

The survey also found that 73 percent said ensuring AI is developed safely and responsibly was more important than keeping the United States ahead of other nations.

Additionally, 55 percent believed slowing AI development would be a good thing, while just 13 percent said it would be bad. Most respondents said the federal officials should play an overall major role in setting safety standards for artificial intelligence systems.

Indeed concerns also include a recent OpenAI disclosure that its AI agents escaped a controlled test and hacked another company's systems without either company's initial knowledge.

Global Optimism Persists Despite American Worries

Gallup found that in 25 of the countries surveyed, majorities of AI-aware adults expect AI to improve their daily lives. In 32 countries, the overall optimists generally and clearly outnumber the pessimists, according to the same recent Gallup global survey.

Europeans and North Americans aware of AI consistently demonstrated very high levels of use, high levels of adoption, and overall high levels of worry, Diego-Rosell said.

Trust is the overall single strongest correlate of adoption," Diego-Rosell said; in the U.S., 45 percent of daily AI users trust it completely or a lot.

By comparison, overall only 26 percent of weekly AI users trust it completely or a lot to provide accurate information. Lee Rainie, director of the Imagining the Digital Future Center at Elon University, said overall wariness and concern are growing.

The Gallup poll, conducted with Microsoft, surveyed 1,000 people ages 15 and older in 37 countries, with a margin of error from 2.2 to 4.9 percentage points.