About 68% of Americans who use artificial intelligence every day are worried about the technology, according to a new survey conducted by opinion research firm Gallup and commissioned by Microsoft. The findings show that frequent use doesn't translate to comfort with AI's broader implications, and that anxiety about the tech runs even higher among people who use it less often. The study, which polled roughly 1,000 people in each of 37 countries between April and July, complicates the idea that adoption rates can serve as a simple gauge of public support for artificial intelligence.
The data reveal stark international differences in sentiment. The United States leads in anxiety, with 74% of Americans reporting feelings of worry and only 36% expecting AI to mostly help the country. Other wealthy Western nations showed similar patterns: in Canada, 29% of those surveyed reported daily AI use, and more than half of those daily users expressed concerns about the technology's impact, while 64% of Canadians aware of AI said it worried them overall. By contrast, Singapore had the highest share of daily users in the study at 46%, and more than 80% of those aware of AI expect the tech to improve their everyday lives, with 77% believing it'll help the country. In China, where 35% of people report daily AI use, most expect the technology to benefit the nation, and the story is similar in Israel. Trust in AI's accuracy doesn't necessarily track with optimism: in the U.S., only 45% of daily users expressed confidence in the tech's results, and across all countries surveyed, just 36% (median) said they trust AI's results a lot.
The report finds that attitudes toward artificial intelligence are multidimensional. Pablo Diego-Rosell, senior scientist at Gallup, told TechCrunch that "people can be curious about AI, expect it to be beneficial and use it frequently while still being worried about it." Overall, Gallup reports that positive feelings about AI outweigh negative sentiments: in 34 of the 37 countries surveyed, people mostly reported feeling curious about the tech, with fewer saying they felt happy or excited, and only about 32% of those surveyed said they felt worried. Positive emotions appear most common in China (90%), Singapore (89%), and Kenya (87%).
The survey arrives during intense debate around AI dangers, rapid developments in AI safety, and accusations of anticompetitive behavior in the industry. The report notes growing discontent around artificial intelligence, including tech companies laying off hundreds of thousands of employees to invest in AI, shrinking entry-level job openings, and warnings from AI leaders like Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei about mass job displacement. There's also concern that training and serving AI models can harm the climate, and their unregulated use can disrupt cybersecurity, diminish content ownership, upset creative arts fields, or harm data privacy. It's unclear how much sentiment in some countries, especially China, might have shifted since the survey ended in July, as the pace of AI development has recently become a matter of international importance.
The findings suggest that greater exposure alone won't resolve unease around the technology, according to the report. People who rely on AI for day-to-day tasks may end up supporting tougher rules or resisting its use in hiring, healthcare, education, or government. Still, given the amount of money being invested, AI will likely continue proliferating even as disputes rage around where it belongs and what limits should be placed around it. The gap between daily adoption and persistent worry signals that regulators and companies can't assume user behavior alone reflects public acceptance or readiness for AI's expanding role in society.