Public distrust of AI rises to over 70%, with 6,000 US businesspeople reporting "minimal impact"

Public distrust of AI rises to over 70%, with 6,000 US businesspeople reporting "minimal impact"

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AI's failure to win over the public's hearts and minds, coupled with growing resistance, is fueling growing distrust. A national survey of 6,000 businesspeople in the US, Germany, the UK, and Australia found that AI's impact on businesses was "minimal."

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The US National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) announced on the 20th that a survey of approximately 6,000 CFOs, CEOs, and executives from a stratified sample of companies in the US, UK, Germany, and Australia found that companies reported minimal impact from AI over the past three years, with over 80% reporting no impact on employment or productivity.

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The NBER's February report, "Corporate AI Data," "presents the first representative international data on enterprise-level AI use," and stated, "We surveyed approximately 6,000 CFOs, CEOs, and executives from a stratified sample of companies in the US, UK, Germany, and Australia. We found that while more than two-thirds of top executives regularly use AI, their average usage time is only 1.5 hours per week, and a quarter report no AI use at all."

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Unlike executives, the NBER report found that approximately 70% of these companies are actively using AI, "particularly among younger, more productive companies." The report added, "Companies anticipate significant impacts over the next three years, predicting that AI will increase productivity by 1.4%, increase output by 0.8%, and reduce employment by 0.7%."

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The report continued, "A survey of individual employees who predict a 0.5% increase in employment due to AI over the next three years revealed that while senior executives predict a decrease in employment due to AI, employees predict a net job creation. This contrast suggests a significant gap in expectations between executives and employees."

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A YouGov poll in the United States periodically asks Americans about their concerns about AI. On July 19th of last year, a YouGov poll reported that, compared to March of last year, "Americans were more concerned about AI causing the end of humanity."

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The YouGov report stated, "Compared to March, more Americans believed that AI would have a negative impact on society, and slightly more were very concerned about specific potential impacts of AI. However, over the same period, the percentage of Americans who believe AI will reduce the number of jobs in their industries decreased."

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The YouGov report stated, "The percentage of Americans who believe AI will have a negative impact on society has steadily increased, from 34% in December 2024 to 40% in March 2025, 41% in April 2025, and 47% in June 2025." The report added, "Only 6% of Americans believe AI's impact will be very positive, 20% somewhat positive, and 16% neither positive nor negative."

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The survey results reveal growing distrust among Americans about AI's ability to provide accurate information.

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This distrust increased from 43% in March of last year who said they had "no great confidence" in AI to 50% in July.

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Distrust is particularly evident in the survey, with 67% of Americans saying they have "little or no confidence" that AI can make ethical decisions, and 57% saying they have "partial or complete distrust" that AI can make unbiased decisions, leading to the perception of AI as "unethical bias."

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The survey found that 39% of Americans believe AI will lower the average job satisfaction of American workers; 15% believe AI will increase productivity; only 27% believe it will increase productivity; and an even larger 32% believe it will decrease productivity.

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A YouGov survey found that 35% of American workers are concerned about the possibility of losing their jobs or reducing their work hours due to AI. This figure remains consistent.

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Concerns about "workers' wages decreasing due to unemployment" persist among the working class, with 34% of respondents expressing concern in August 2024, 35% in March 2024, and 35% in July 2023.

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Conversely, American workers are shifting their perceptions of the impact of AI on employment in their industries.

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YouGov found that "in August 2024, 48% of employed Americans believed AI would reduce the number of jobs in their industries, but by July 2025, only 31% believed so," indicating that companies are seeing less tangible changes as AI expands.

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The survey found that among those who use AI tools weekly—roughly one-third (32%) of the US population—51% believe they will have a positive impact on society, while 27% believe they will have a negative impact.

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The survey found that since March of last year, the percentage of Americans who are very concerned about AI has increased, leading to an increase in human reliance on technology (from 45% in March to 50% today), a decrease in human creativity and motivation (from 44% to 49%), the proliferation of misleading video and audio deepfakes (from 58% to 63%), and a decline in face-to-face social interaction (from 41% to 46%).

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Google CEO Sundar Pichai said at a town hall event in San Francisco on January 31, 2019, that "AI is one of the most important fields of study for humanity," adding, "It's more profound than electricity or fire."

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He stated that AI would have a greater impact on the world than some of the most widely known innovations in history, and he initiated the AI boom.

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The New York Times reported on the 21st, "Silicon Valley executives promise that AI will kick in just minutes and fundamentally change everyone's life for the better. AI is described as the new electricity, a bigger problem than using fire. Don't try to save for retirement, everyone will be rich." They added, "Creators of new technologies have always marketed them as fundamentally transforming human existence. Radio was marketed as bringing 'permanent peace to the planet,' television was expected to end wars by fostering empathy between different cultures, and cable television was touted as educating the public and leading to widespread enlightenment. But this time, AI has failed to win the hearts and minds of the public."

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The New York Times reported, "Adoption among AI technology companies has stalled. In the fourth quarter of 2025, 38% of employees told Gallup that AI technology was integrated into their workplace, a figure that remained virtually unchanged from the third quarter."

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Artificial intelligence is clearly not a technology that is universally and inevitably encouraged. Companies already frequently report that AI hasn't yet generated significant buzz.

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The New York Times reported, "Fear is everywhere," adding, "The S&P North American Software Index fell 15% in January, its biggest monthly decline in 17 years, driven by concerns that AI will replace software."

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As the hype surrounding AI wealth creation has in turn fueled fear, apathy toward AI and hostility are growing simultaneously.

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The New York Times stated, "Both apathy and hostility are perhaps inevitable," adding, "AI advocates are preoccupied with depicting a bleak future where humans using technology will replace those who don't, and this is perhaps why it remains one of the few unifying issues in a divided America."

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A Gallup poll released on September 17th of last year found that, "As AI continues to advance and expand its capabilities, Americans believe the government should prioritize maintaining AI safety and data security regulations." The poll, conducted in partnership with the Special Competitive Research Project (SCSP), found that 80% of American adults believe the government should maintain AI safety and data security regulations, which means the development of AI capabilities should be slowed.

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Conversely, the survey found that only 9% of Americans believe the government should prioritize AI capabilities as quickly as possible, even if it means loosening AI safety and data security regulations. Eleven percent of Americans were unsure, demonstrating widespread skepticism about the technology's progress.

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William Quinn, co-author of Boom and Bust: A Global History of Financial Bubbles, told the New York Times, "I can't remember a boom with this much active hostility." He added, "People are usually excited about new technologies. That's what happened with electric cars, bicycles, and autos. There was fear, but there was also hope. AI is notorious, perhaps uniquely, for its lack of enthusiasm."

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More than half of Americans have tried large language models, but a significant number have inadvertently used AI in almost everyone they've done anything online.

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A Pew Research Center survey from September 17th of last year found that "Americans are far more concerned about the increasing use of AI in their daily lives than they expected, and a majority want more control over how AI is used in their lives." A much larger proportion say AI will diminish, rather than enhance, people's ability to think creatively and form meaningful relationships.

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The survey report, titled "How Americans View AI and Its Impact on People and Society," stated, "While Americans see a role for AI in some areas of society, they want more control over its use, with about half saying it will erode creative thinking." It also stated, "61% of survey respondents said they want more control over how AI is used in their lives."

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The report stated, "American adults are generally pessimistic about the impact of AI on their ability to think creatively and form meaningful relationships. 53% say AI will diminish creative thinking skills, while 16% say it will improve them." An equal number (16%) said AI will make the technology neither better nor worse.

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While the YouGov survey found that "caution is only a concern for low-skilled workers" regarding distrust of AI, the annual "Trust in Society Survey" released in January by global communications firm Edelman revealed a broader distrust.

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The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer, released in January, found that two-thirds of low-income American respondents said, "People like me will be left behind rather than realize the real benefits of generative AI." More surprisingly, nearly half of high-income workers shared the same sentiment.

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The New York Times stated, "Era-defining booms are rare. The South Pacific mania of the 1720s. The British railway boom of the 1840s. The gold rush of the 1920s. The Tokyo export boom of the 1980s. These booms follow a familiar pattern, with some investors claiming that a new technological development brought about the change. Early believers make money. That attracts more investors. Critics are drowned out. Speculators take over. The boom becomes a bubble and bursts. Everyone regrets it and vows to cut back on alcohol. Eventually, a new technology emerges. Utopia beckons, and the cycle begins again."

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In his book, "The Digital Sublime: Myth, Power, and Cyberspace," technology historian Vincent Mosco wrote, "Generation after generation has believed that the latest technology will deliver on its radical and revolutionary promise, no matter what previous technologies may have said." He told the New York Times, "These days, the bubble is bursting fast. The boom is exploding."

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How are Americans using AI?

The survey found that 48% of Americans have looked up answers to questions.

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Other common uses for AI included providing clear explanations of complex topics (31% use it for this purpose), entertaining themselves (31%), receiving step-by-step instructions (30%), and translating text into another language (29%).

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Conversely, growing distrust of AI's ability to provide accurate information has led to a rise in distrust, with 43% saying they "have little or no trust" in AI in March of last year, and 50% saying they have no trust in AI in July.

 

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