People Who Use AI More Also Dislike It Most, Study Reveals

Young people in the US use AI more than any other demographic in the country – but they’re also the most likely to think its effects on society will be detrimental.

As chatbot use hits 49% in the US and president Donald Trump fast-tracks ever more data centres, new research shows that only a sliver of the American people think AI will do society any good. 

The survey by the Pew Research Center reveals that only 16% of adults in the US think the fast-developing technology will better society – and young people are the least convinced. 

Last year, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei predicted that AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs within five years. According to data project Jobloss.ai, at least 126,510 jobs in the US have already been lost to computers between January 2025 and June 2026 for reasons linked to the uptake of AI. 

Whilst the survey didn’t expand on the most pressing of participants’ concerns, common criticisms of AI include the vast energy stores needed to fuel it. By 2030, powering AI will use as much water as the 1.3 billion people in Sub Saharan Africa, according to the United Nations University. 

More than one in three young people surveyed by Pew also said that they expect AI will have a negative impact on them personally over the coming decades.

Already, some studies suggest over-reliance on tools like Chat GPT is linked to problems with memory, critical thinking and attention span. One researcher coined the name “cognitive offloading” to describe the reduced need for independent thinking in the AI age. 

Research by Ipsos reveals that consumers in anglophone countries including the US and the UK are the most worried about AI, whereas people in China and India lean more towards excitement than fear.