People across the world are increasingly turning to AI for everyday tasks, from looking up recipes and doing their homework to researching work projects or making presentations. But using AI every day doesn’t necessarily mean people are feeling comfortable with its implications for the world: About 68% of Americans who use AI daily are worried about it, according to a new survey conducted by opinion research firm Gallup, and concern about the tech skews even higher among people who use it less frequently. Coming at a time of intense debate around the dangers of AI, quick developments around AI safety, the implications of AI going rogue, and accusations of anti-competitive behavior, these findings complicate the notion that adoption can serve as a straightforward measure of public enthusiasm for AI.
Commissioned by Microsoft, the Gallup study currently has results from 37 countries, where researchers polled about 1,000 people in each country between April and July. The project will eventually span 140 countries. Notably, India, a large population of tech users, is not currently part of the reported results, nor is Australia and Malaysia.
The findings appear to put the U.S. at the anxious end of an international chart even as people in other parts of the world expect the technology to improve their lives. According to Gallup, Western countries are most concerned about AI, with the United States leading in anxiety — 74% Americans reported feelings of worry, and only 36% expect AI to mostly help the country. Other wealthy Western countries showed a similar mix of relatively frequent use and concern.
In Canada, for example, 29% of those surveyed reported using AI daily, and of those, more than half expressed concerns about the impact of the technology. Overall, 64% of Canadians aware of AI said it worried them. They’re likely not imagining it.
There’s certainly been a growing wave of discontent around AI, with tech companies laying off hundreds of thousands of employees in order to invest in AI, shrinking entry-level openings, life-ending cases of AI psychosis, and dire warnings from AI leaders like Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who have warned that the tech will wipe out jobs en masse. The survey paints a different picture in the rest of the world, however. In Singapore, which had the highest portion of daily users in the study (46%), more than 80% of those aware about AI expect the tech to improve their everyday lives, and 77% think it’ll help the country.
China, where 35% of people report using AI daily, most people expect it to help the country. The story is similar in Israel. Still, optimism about AI doesn’t necessarily appear to translate to trust in the tech’s accuracy.
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