A new Pew Research study has revealed that only 16% of Americans believe artificial intelligence will have a positive impact on society over the next two decades, while roughly 40% expect a negative effect. The findings highlight a deep disconnect between Americans' growing use of AI tools and their feelings about the technology itself. Distrust runs high across the board: 67% of respondents said they don't believe the U.S. government will meaningfully regulate AI, and 59% said they don't trust tech companies to develop it safely. Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed also said AI is being developed too quickly.
Interestingly, young Americans — typically seen as the most tech-forward demographic — are the most pessimistic. Just 14% of people under 30 think AI will benefit society in the long run, the lowest of any age group. Despite that skepticism, daily AI use is on the rise. About a quarter of Americans now say they use AI chatbots every day, primarily for research and work tasks. ChatGPT dominates the field, with 44% of U.S. adults reporting they use OpenAI's flagship product — a figure that has more than doubled since 2023. Google Gemini comes in second at 24%, followed by Microsoft Copilot at 17%, Meta AI at 14%, and Elon Musk's Grok at 8%. Anthropic's Claude (6%) and Character.ai (3%) trail behind.
A notable gender gap also emerged from the data. While chatbot adoption is growing among both men and women, men remain more enthusiastic and frequent users: 27% of men report daily chatbot use, compared to just 20% of women. Men and women use ChatGPT at roughly equal rates, but men are more likely to engage with alternatives like Copilot and Grok. The study also points to a major shift in how Americans consume information, with six in 10 respondents saying they regularly read AI-generated internet summaries instead of clicking through to original sources. That trend alone signals how quickly generative AI is reshaping online behavior, even as the public grows increasingly uneasy about where the technology is headed.