Only 16 percent of Americans think AI will have a positive impact on society, a new study shows

Only 16 percent of Americans believe artificial intelligence will have a positive impact on society over the next 20 years, according to a new Pew Research study, while 40 percent expect a negative impact and a majority doubt either government or corporate efforts to manage the technology safely [1]. The survey, which maps public sentiment as AI tools become embedded in daily digital life, found that 67 percent of Americans do not believe the U.S. government will meaningfully regulate AI, and 59 percent do not trust companies to develop it safely [1]. Nearly two-thirds of respondents said AI development is proceeding too quickly [1]. The findings arrive during a period of rapid investment and public attention that researchers have called the AI boom, accelerated by the release of OpenAI's ChatGPT in November 2022 [2]. ChatGPT reached 100 million monthly active users within two months and counted 900 million weekly active users by February 2026 [2]. Pew reports that 44 percent of U.S. adults now use ChatGPT, a figure that has more than doubled since 2023 [1]. The next most-used chatbots are Gemini at 24 percent, Copilot at 17 percent, and MetaAI at 14 percent, with Grok, Claude, and Character.ai trailing [1]. Men report higher daily chatbot use than women, at 27 percent versus 20 percent, and men more commonly use brands such as Copilot and Grok [1]. Younger Americans are among the most skeptical. Only 14 percent of people under 30 think AI will have a positive societal impact [1]. This cohort belongs to Generation Alpha and the youngest members of Generation Z, the first generations raised entirely with smartphones and social media, who experienced the COVID-19 pandemic as children and whose early learning has been shaped by portable digital technology [5]. Usage drops sharply with age. Nearly 75 percent of Americans aged 65 or older say they never use AI chatbots, and about half of the country overall reports no daily AI use [1]. Those who abstain cite a lack of interest and no intention to adopt the tools in the future [1]. Public wariness tracks with broader debates over AI ethics and safety. The field of AI ethics encompasses algorithmic bias, accountability, transparency, and regulation, particularly where systems influence human decision-making in areas such as healthcare, education, and criminal justice [4]. Generative AI tools, which produce text, images, and video from user prompts, have been used to create deepfakes and misinformation, and have drawn criticism for training on copyrighted material without permission [7]. Concerns about existential risk from advanced AI have also entered mainstream policy discussions. In 2023, hundreds of AI experts and public figures signed a statement declaring that mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside pandemics and nuclear war [3]. In 2025, a group including five Nobel laureates and former senior U.S. national security officials called for a ban on the development of superintelligence [3]. A 2022 survey of AI researchers found that a majority believed there was a 10 percent or greater chance that an inability to control AI would cause an existential catastrophe [3]. Despite the skepticism, AI is altering how Americans consume information. Six in ten survey respondents told Pew they routinely read AI-generated internet summaries, while a smaller share reported using AI for fitness and diet information [1].