PODCAST:
May 20, 2026 ~ Chris Renwick and Lloyd Jackson talk with Axios reporter Madison Mills. They discuss public perception of AI, job displacement, and economic implications. Many people worry about AI’s impact.
From public polling to college graduations to city council meetings, one thing has become clear: there is a lot of anxiety and anger directed at generative artificial intelligence technology.
As the development of AI technology and associated infrastructure grows at a rapid pace, so is the number of concerns U.S. residents have about the new technology. A majority of Americans (71%) think that AI development is moving too fast, according to a YouGov/Economist poll published May 12, with 27% saying the pace is about right and only 2% say it is moving too slowly. The same poll found that 51% of U.S. adults are more pessimistic than optimistic about A’s effects on society, with just 25% being optimistic and 24% unsure.
Other polls also indicate hesitancy about the evolving technology. In an NBC News poll, 57% of voters said they thought the risks of AI outweigh its benefits, compared with 34%, with only 26% vieing AI positively. A recent Pew Research poll found that 53% people U.S. adults worry that AI will negatively impact people’s abilities to think creatively, and half of them fear that it will harm the ability to form meaningful relationships.
“It’s literally pick your poll, and you can see evidence of the AI hate wave that we’re seeing right now,” Axios reporter Madison Mills told WJR. “There was a YouGov poll that I found super interesting because it showed that no matter what political party you’re in, the overwhelming majority of folks in it are not happy about AI.
“Then you’ve had other polls that compare how people feel about AI to other hot topics or current events like the Democratic Party, the war in Iran, and ICE. AI is polling worse than all three of those things. So that shows the degree to which people are not feeling great about AI, and it kinda makes sense. When the AI CEOs are telling everyone that this technology could take their jobs, it’s not really a surprise that people aren’t happy about it.”
Looking back at the YouGov poll, the economic and job concerns are also reflected in its findings. About 64% of respondents said it is slightly or very unlikely that “AI will create economic gains that benefit everyone,” compared to 36% who are more optimistic on the matter. Just over half of U.S. adults, 51%, said they were slightly or very worried that AI will replace human workers in jobs.
Some believe that employment concerns regarding AI are not warranted, with a recent report from Starda finding that 46% employers believe that AI tools will be more likely to increase entry-level hiring in their businesses, compared to 17% who believe it will decrease hiring. Still, concerns grow as the list of companies citing AI as a reason for layoffs expands. For instance, Meta announced it laid off about 8,000 employees and redirected 7,000 others to focus more staff and funds on its AI projects. Last year, Amazon announced it had laid off 14,000 workers to embrace more AI technology in its operations, despite saying that the company was “doing well.”
Despite young people typically embracing new technology more willingly and excitedly than older generations, the youth seem to be particularly cold to emerging generative AI. This was on full display at recent college graduation ceremonies, when Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta faced a chorus of boos from graduating students during commencement speeches when they spoke positively about the future of AI.
“You don’t always love something that is shoved down your throat and forced on you,” Mills said. “Young people are being told that they have to use AI, that they are the most susceptible to the AI hiring hit that we’re seeing because entry-level work is getting crushed right now. They are also entering the workforce at a really unstable time, being forced to use this technology. In some cases, they don’t want to, and so it’s not super surprising to me the hate that we’re seeing from young people.”
AI tech companies require a massive amount of power to train their models, leading to a surge of data centers popping up across the U.S. Many communities, though, where data centers have been built or are being proposed, are hostile towards them. While some city council members and AI companies tout potential job growth and economic investments, community members have shown up to city council meetings across the country to express their fears of a potential rise in electrical bills and excessive water use associated with data centers.
“In some cases, we’re already seeing it driving people’s bills up at a time when inflation is already a massive problem, and so is affordability,” Mills said. “So, you don’t want yet another thing adding to that problem, as gas prices are also ticking up. You also have questions about whether or not this is the best use of community resources, or if you want big tech companies kind of in your backyard.“
