From finding recipes and doing homework to researching work projects and creating presentations, people around the world are increasingly using AI in their daily tasks.
But just because people use AI every day doesn’t necessarily mean they feel safe about its impact on the world. Approximately 68% of Americans who use AI daily are concerned about it, and concerns about the technology’s biases are even higher among those who use AI infrequently, according to a new survey conducted by polling firm Gallup.
At a time of intense debate about the dangers of AI, rapid advances in AI safety, the impact of AI fraud, and accusations of anticompetitive behavior, these findings complicate the idea that AI adoption serves as a direct measure of public enthusiasm for AI.
The Gallup poll, commissioned by Microsoft, currently has results from 37 countries, and researchers surveyed about 1,000 people in each country between April and July. The project will eventually reach 140 countries. Notably, India, which has a large population of technology users, is not currently included in the reported results, nor are Australia or Malaysia.
Even as people in other parts of the world expect technology to improve their lives, the findings appear to place the United States at an uneasy end of the international landscape. According to Gallup, Western countries are the most concerned about AI, with the US leading the way in concerns. 74% of Americans report feeling anxious, and only 36% expect AI to primarily help the country.
Other wealthy Western countries showed a similar mix of relatively frequent use and concern. In Canada, for example, 29% of those surveyed reported using AI every day, and more than half of them expressed concerns about the technology’s impact. Overall, 64% of Canadians who knew about AI said they were worried about it.
The wave of dissatisfaction surrounding AI is steadily growing, with tech companies laying off hundreds of thousands of workers to invest in AI, shrinking entry-level job openings, cases of people ending their lives due to AI psychosis, and dire warnings from AI leaders like Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who warned that the technology will wipe out jobs en masse.
However, this study paints a different picture in other parts of the world. In Singapore, which had the highest proportion of daily users surveyed (46%), more than 80% of those who know about AI expect AI technology to improve their daily lives, and 77% think it will help the country. In China, 35% of citizens report using AI every day, and most expect AI to help the country. It’s a similar story in Israel.
Still, optimism about AI doesn’t necessarily seem to translate into confidence in the technology’s accuracy. According to Gallup, people who use AI regularly are generally more trusting of its results, especially in countries with high adoption rates such as Singapore, Israel, and China, while those who use it less frequently remain skeptical overall. In the US, only 45% of daily users expressed that level of trust. Overall, only 36% (median) of those surveyed said they had a lot of confidence in AI results.
But overall, Gallup reports that positive sentiment toward AI outweighs negative sentiment. In 34 of the 37 countries surveyed, most people said they were curious about the technology, with fewer saying they felt happy or excited. Only about 32% of those surveyed said they were worried about AI. Positive emotions appear to be most prevalent in China (90%), Singapore (89%) and Kenya (87%).
It’s unclear how much sentiment in some countries, particularly China, has changed since it ended in July, as the pace of AI development has become a key international issue these days. AI safety will be one of the key topics discussed when US President Donald Trump and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping meet on Thursday.
Notably, Chen Yixin, Director-General of China’s Ministry of State Security, wrote in a recent article that AI could have a “systematic impact on the political and security environment” and threaten China’s “political, institutional, and ideological security.”
“One of the most obvious findings is that attitudes toward AI are multifaceted. People may be interested in AI, expect it to be useful, and use it frequently despite reservations. Similarly, they may see great potential in AI even if they remain skeptical about whether the information it provides is accurate,” Pablo Diego-Rosell, senior scientist at Gallup, told TechCrunch.
Although the report paints a picture of optimism tempered by some concerns, it is nonetheless true that concerns about AI are increasingly becoming part of the public debate. Those who rely on AI in their daily work could end up supporting stricter regulations or resisting its use in employment, health care, education, and government. And there is certainly an argument that training and provisioning of AI models could have a negative impact on the climate, and that unregulated use could disrupt cybersecurity, reduce content ownership, disrupt creative arts fields, or undermine data privacy.
Ultimately, this report suggests that increased exposure alone will not solve concerns about this technology. Still, given the amount of money being invested, AI will continue to proliferate, despite controversy over where it belongs and what limits should be placed on it.
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