A hot potato: A new survey to discover Americans' views on AI has found that 30% of participants fear their jobs may become obsolete as a result of the technology, while 70% believe it will lead to a decrease in the number of job opportunities for people. Interestingly, it was also discovered that 15% of Americans would be willing to work for an AI boss.
Quinnipiac University's survey, which questioned 1,397 adults, found that while Americans are increasing their use of AI, their views on artificial intelligence are becoming more negative.
Just 27% of participants said they never used AI tools, down from 33% in April 2025. The largest use case increase was for researching topics people are curious about, which jumped 37% compared to a year ago.
Despite more people using AI, three-quarters of Americans (76%) admit they hardly ever or only sometimes trust it – around the same figure as last year.
The biggest issue with AI has always been how it will affect jobs. While 70% of people are worried about the impact on job opportunities, the demographic most concerned is Gen Z (born 1997 to 2008), of which 81% share this concern. The least worried group, perhaps unsurprisingly, is the Silent Generation – those born between 1928 and 1945.
An increasing number of Americans are concerned about AI making their jobs obsolete. It's a fear shared by 30% of employed people, up from 21% a year ago.
"Americans are more worried about what AI may do to the labor market than about what it may do to their own jobs. People seem more willing to predict a tougher market than to picture themselves on the losing end of that disruption - a pattern worth watching as the technology moves deeper into the workplace," said Tamilla Triantoro, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Business Analytics and Information Systems, Quinnipiac University School of Business.
A job where the direct supervisor is an AI program is something 80% of Americans would not be willing to do, but 15% of people said they would be willing – perhaps assuming it's better than no job at all.
AI being used in the military is another hot-button topic. A slight majority of Americans (51%) oppose the military using AI to select military targets, while 36% support it. Again, opinions vary in this area based on age groups, with almost 70% of Gen Z opposing military use of AI and 47% of the Silent Generation supporting it.
One area that had a lot of support was AI transparency and regulation. 75% of Americans think that businesses are not doing enough to be transparent about their use of AI, and 74% think the government is not doing enough to regulate its use.
"Americans are not rejecting AI outright, but they are sending a warning. Too much uncertainty, too little trust, too little regulation, and too much fear about jobs," said Chetan Jaiswal, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Computer Science and Associate Chair, Department of Computing, Quinnipiac University School of Computing and Engineering.