Americans' Approval of Artificial Intelligence Is Plummeting

Artificial intelligence could potentially destroy humanity in five to 10 years, CEOs postulated at a Yale University summit in 2023. Three years later, the world is abuzz with discussion and debate over AI: Is it good? Is it bad? Is society doomed?

When advances such as Learning Language Models first hit the scene, many applauded the tech industry. But now, the nation is becoming more skeptical of AI and its looming threat. Some assert that the threat is already here. Only 16% of respondents to a recent Pew Research poll say they believe AI will positively impact society. 

AI use has exploded over the last two years. The reasons for using it include its function as a search engine, photoshop, fitness plan generator, news source, health advice, and even romantic companionship, says Pew. Nearly half of American adults use AI chatbots in 2026, up from a third in 2024. 

Around a fourth report using chatbots every day, including 12% several times a day and 4% almost constantly, Pew continues. Along with these growing numbers are Americans' concerns over how the technology could adversely affect societal behavior.

"Majorities of younger and older adults alike say AI is advancing too quickly. Across age groups, this share ranges from 61% to 65%," Pew says. 

While 14% of adults under 30 say the impact of AI will be positive, about half of them say it will negatively impact society; the report continues. Young adults are also skeptical; about four in 10 say that AI will be negative for their age group specifically.

Pew discovered that these are not anomalies, and that views of AI are more negative than positive across every age group. 

Both men and women are concerned. Thirty-three percent of women say that they believe that AI will have a negative impact on them personally over the next 20 years, while 27% of men believe the same. Nearly half of the women surveyed say they believe that AI will have an overall negative impact on society. Overall, Americans believe AI is moving too fast, with 68% of women and 58% of men agreeing on this. 

"AI promises tremendous benefits, but it also raises legitimate questions about privacy, employment, human autonomy, national security, and even the future of human relationships," Robert Maginnis, a senior fellow for National Security at Family Research Council, told The Washington Stand. "The real story isn't that women fear AI more than men. It's that women appear more willing to question whether society is adopting AI faster than it can safely govern it. That's not fear -- that's prudence.

This decline in support could be attributed to a myriad of things: chatbots encouraging lonely children to commit suicide, the prevalence of automated scams, the dire effects of allowing AI to be present in schools, and even the establishment of data centers.

"Even putting aside the environmental toll of chip manufacturing and supply chains, the training process for a single AI model, such as a large language model, can consume thousands of megawatt hours of electricity and emit hundreds of tons of carbon. 

This is roughly equivalent to the annual carbon emissions of hundreds of households in America," a report by Harvard Business Review says about the effects of data centers. "Furthermore, AI model training can lead to the evaporation of an astonishing amount of fresh water into the atmosphere for data center heat rejection, potentially exacerbating stress on our already limited freshwater resources."

 "AI promises tremendous benefits, but it also raises legitimate questions about privacy, employment, human autonomy, national security, and even the future of human relationships," Maginnis said. "Those are questions all of us should be asking."

Originally published at The Washington Stand