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June 17, 2026
Society & Culture

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

Overview

Although Wall Street loves AI, every day Americans are significantly less optimistic about the industry, a new report from Pew Research shows. Despite the fact that AI increasingly dominates our economy (it's a hot IPO summer and we're all just along for the ride), most Americans are not particularly optimistic about the technology's long-term impact on the country, a new study from Pew Research reveals. In fact, although a whole lot of Americans increasingly use AI in their daily lives, most of them have neutral to negative views about it, the research reveals.

Key Takeaways

  • Only 16% of Americans think that AI's impact on society during the next 20 years will be positive, Pew says, while around 40% say that it will have a negative impact.
  • On top of all this, a vast majority of Americans - nearly two-thirds - also think that AI's development is occurring too quickly.

    Despite all of the skepticism, a whole lot of Americans also report using AI in their daily lives on an increasingly regular basis.

  • The next most popular chatbot is Gemini (24%), followed by Copilot (17%) and Meta AI (14%), with Grok (8%), Claude (6%), and Character.
  • A much smaller number report using AI to get information on fitness and dieting.

    There are also still a whole lot of people - about half of the country - that say they do not use AI in their daily lives.

  • Through candid fireside chats and high-impact networking, you'll walk away with valuable insights and new connections.

Stats & Key Facts

  • #Only 16% of Americans think that AI's impact on society during the next 20 years will be positive, Pew says, while around 40% say that it will have a negative impact.
  • #A vast majority of people (67%) don't believe that the U.
  • #A similarly skeptical cohort (59%) don't trust companies to develop it safely.
  • #Pew says that only 14% of this cohort believe the tech will have a positive impact on society.

A similarly skeptical cohort (59%) don't trust companies to develop it safely. Young people - that is, those people under 30 - are the ones with the most negative feelings about AI. Pew says that only 14% of this cohort believe the tech will have a positive impact on society.

On top of all this, a vast majority of Americans - nearly two-thirds - also think that AI's development is occurring too quickly. Despite all of the skepticism, a whole lot of Americans also report using AI in their daily lives on an increasingly regular basis. About a quarter of Americans say they use AI chatbots on a daily basis.

Those who do are typically using the chatbots for research purposes or for work, Pew says. A vast majority of people using AI are using ChatGPT. adults now say they use OpenAI's chatbot, a figure that's more than doubled since 2023.

For more details please read the original article at TechCrunch AI.

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Originally published by TechCrunch AI
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