Americans Get Smarter About AI, Trust It Less: Gallup 🤖📉

Americans are growing more familiar with artificial intelligence — and more skeptical of it at the same time, according to a report published Tuesday by Gallup. Seven in 10 Americans now say they are somewhat or extremely knowledgeable about AI, up from 64% in 2024, but the percentage who believe AI does more harm than good climbed from 31% in 2025 to 39% this year. Just 9% say AI does more good than harm, while 52% believe it does equal amounts of harm and good.

The shift was sharpest among adults ages 18 to 29, where the share saying AI does more harm than good rose from 36% last year to nearly half. 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 fell, with 27% of Americans saying they trust companies 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 expressing no trust at all rose from 29% to 41%.

Concerns about employment are widespread. Nearly eight in 10 Americans, or 79%, said AI will reduce the number of U.S. jobs over the next decade, up from 73% in 2025. The largest increase came among adults ages 18 to 29, where the share expecting job losses rose from 62% to 75%, and among adults ages 45 to 59, where it climbed from 75% to 84%.

Despite the rising skepticism, Gallup found Americans increasingly view AI as performing about as well as people on tasks such as driving, providing financial advice, and providing medical advice. Respondents continued to rate people higher than AI across every category measured, including hiring decisions, creative work, and helping students with schoolwork.

The Gallup report follows several other surveys showing Americans remain uneasy about AI even as adoption grows. A March NBC News poll found 56% of Americans had recently used AI tools such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, or Google Gemini, while 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, with just 15% saying they trust AI companies to make decisions about how the technology is developed and deployed.