Americans are rapidly adopting artificial intelligence tools in their daily lives, but a new national poll shows growing skepticism about the technology's impact, with majorities expressing concern about jobs, trust, and regulation.
The Quinnipiac University poll, released Monday, finds 51% of Americans say they use AI to research topics, up from 37% last year.
Use has also increased for data analysis, writing, and creating images, while the share who say they have never used AI fell to 27%.
Despite that growth, trust remains low.
More than three-quarters of Americans say they trust AI-generated information only some of the time or hardly ever, while just 21% say they trust it most or almost all of the time.
Public sentiment is increasingly negative.
Fifty-five percent say AI will do more harm than good in their daily lives, up from 44% last year.
Concern is widespread, with 80% saying they are at least somewhat worried about AI compared with just 35% who say they are excited about it.
The poll also highlights anxiety about the pace of technological change. A slight majority, 51%, say AI is developing faster than they expected.
Economic fears are particularly pronounced.
Seventy percent of Americans say advances in AI are likely to reduce the number of job opportunities, up from 56% last year. Younger adults are the most pessimistic, with 81% of Gen Z respondents expecting job losses.
Among employed Americans, 30% say they are worried AI could make their own jobs obsolete. That figure has increased from 21% a year ago.
In key sectors, views are mixed.
Nearly two-thirds say AI will do more harm than good in education, while opinions on healthcare are split. Even when told AI could outperform humans in reading medical scans, 81% say they would prefer a combination of human and AI input rather than relying on AI alone.
There is also strong demand for oversight. Three-quarters of Americans say businesses and the federal government are not doing enough to regulate or be transparent about AI.
The White House said earlier this month that Congress should "preempt state AI laws" that it views as too burdensome, laying out a broad framework for how it wants Congress to address concerns about artificial intelligence without curbing growth or innovation in the sector.
The White House announcement came as state governments have forged ahead on their own regulations for AI while civil liberties and consumer rights groups lobby for more regulations on the powerful technology.
The industry and the White House have argued that a patchwork of rules would hurt growth. Trump signed an executive order in December to block states from crafting their own regulations.
The survey of 1,397 U.S. adults was conducted March 19-23 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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