In brief
- Gallup says Americans have become more skeptical of AI after two years of improving attitudes.
- More Americans believe AI does more harm than good and will reduce U.S. jobs.
- Trust in businesses to use AI responsibly has declined, especially among younger adults.
In a report published Tuesday, polling company Gallup said Americans are cooling toward artificial intelligence after two years of growing more comfortable with the technology.
According to Gallup, seven in 10 Americans now say they are somewhat or extremely knowledgeable about AI, up from 64% in 2024. But as familiarity has grown, so has skepticism. More Americans now believe AI does more harm than good, expect it to reduce the number of U.S. jobs over the next decade, and are less likely to trust businesses to use the technology responsibly.
Thirty-nine percent of Americans now say AI does more harm than good, up from 31% in 2025. Just 9% say AI does more good than harm, while 52% believe it does equal amounts of harm and good.
The shift was most pronounced among adults ages 18 to 29. Nearly half now say AI does more harm than good, up from 36% last year. Gallup said younger adults also became more skeptical of AI‘s overall impact, businesses’ use of the technology, and its effect on jobs.
Trust in businesses to use AI responsibly also declined.
Twenty-seven percent of Americans said they trust businesses at least “some” to use AI responsibly, down from 31% in 2025. Among adults ages 18 to 29, trust dropped from 30% to 20%, while those with no trust at all increased from 29% to 41%.
Nearly eight in 10 Americans said AI will reduce the number of U.S. jobs over the next decade, up from 73% in 2025 to 79% this year. The biggest increase came among adults ages 18 to 29, where the share expecting job losses rose from 62% to 75%. Among adults ages 45 to 59, it increased from 75% to 84%.
Gallup also found Americans increasingly view AI as performing about as well as people on tasks such as driving, providing financial advice, and providing medical advice. Even so, respondents continued to rate people higher than AI across every category measured, including hiring decisions, creative work, and helping students with schoolwork.
The report follows several other surveys that have found Americans remain uneasy about AI despite using it more often.
In March, an NBC News poll found 56% of Americans had recently used AI tools such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, or Google Gemini, yet 57% said the technology‘s risks outweigh its benefits. In June, an Anthropic survey of nearly 52,000 Americans found job losses were the public’s top concern across every state and political party, while just 15% said they trust AI companies to make decisions about how the technology is developed and used.