Americans Grow More Skeptical of AI as Familiarity Increases, Gallup Finds
Key Takeaways
- •Nearly four in ten Americans now believe AI does more harm than good, up from 31% in 2025, while only 9% say it does more good than harm.
- •Seventy-nine percent of Americans expect AI to reduce the number of U.S. jobs over the next decade, an increase from 73% the previous year.
- •Trust in businesses to use AI responsibly declined, with only 27% of Americans expressing at least some trust compared to 31% in 2025.
- •Young adults aged 18 to 29 showed the most dramatic shift in sentiment, with nearly half now viewing AI as harmful and trust in businesses dropping ten percentage points.
- •Despite growing familiarity with AI, Americans still rated human performance higher than AI across every measured task category, including hiring decisions, creative work, and academic assistance.

Americans are becoming increasingly skeptical of artificial intelligence after two years of improving attitudes, according to a new Gallup report published Tuesday.
Seven in 10 Americans now say they are somewhat or extremely knowledgeable about AI, up from 64% in 2024. However, as familiarity with the technology 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 inclined to trust businesses to use the technology responsibly.
The polling company's findings mark a reversal after two years during which Americans had been growing more comfortable with AI. The results come as major technology companies continue to deploy AI products at a rapid pace across consumer applications, workplace software, and enterprise tools, making the technology increasingly visible in daily life even as public confidence erodes.
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 of that demographic now say AI does more harm than good, up from 36% last year. Gallup reported that younger adults also became more skeptical of AI's overall impact, businesses' use of the technology, and its effect on employment. The finding is notable because younger adults have typically been among the earliest adopters of new technologies, suggesting that direct experience with AI tools may be contributing to rather than alleviating concern.
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, that figure increased from 75% to 84%.
Gallup also found that 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 aligns with several other surveys that have found Americans remain uneasy about AI despite using it more frequently.
In March, an NBC News poll found that 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.