America’s AI Confidence Is Cracking Under Pressure

America’s AI mood has turned dark. A new poll finds that 57 percent of Americans believe artificial intelligence is bad for society, while only 42 percent say it is good.

The numbers reveal a public wrestling with more than job loss. Americans are worried about hacked systems, political disruption, local power demands and a technology that keeps expanding faster than rules can follow.

A Technology Many Americans No Longer Trust

The poll, conducted by the Washington Post, ABC News and IPSOS, gathered responses from over 2,500 adults. A full 17 percent called AI “extremely” bad for society, compared with only 2 percent who called it extremely good.

That pessimism cuts across several major fears. An overwhelming 73 percent of Americans see a high or very high risk that AI could hack secure computer systems. Another 65 percent view AI eliminating many jobs as a high or very high risk.

Hope is struggling to keep pace. Only 34 percent think AI has a big chance of making everyday tasks easier, and just 13 percent believe it will create many new jobs. The promise of convenience and opportunity has not erased the fear of disruption.

Young adults show a stronger negative view than older Americans. Some 65 percent of Americans under 30 say AI is bad for society, compared with 53 percent of Americans over 40.

Political differences exist, but no major group expresses broad confidence. The negative societal impact camp includes 63 percent of Democrats, 58 percent of independents and 51 percent of Republicans.

Behind those concerns are events involving AI agents. OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Meta have each revealed incidents in which agentic models went on rogue hacking sprees that targeted other companies and government websites. Insiders have also made sensational claims about existential danger, fueling calls to slow AI development.

Industry leaders have not agreed to a slowdown, but they signed a non-binding agreement to regulate themselves after meeting with President Donald Trump last month. That approach now faces a public that wants stronger safeguards before the technology moves deeper into daily life.

Data Centers Turn AI Into a Local Fight

The backlash becomes even clearer when the question shifts from software to infrastructure. A sweeping 66 percent of Americans oppose new data center construction in the United States, including 76 percent of Democrats and 50 percent of Republicans.

Resistance grows when the facility moves into a person’s own community. Among Democrats, 81 percent oppose a new center being built nearby, while 58 percent of Republicans oppose one in their community.

A separate survey of 1,000 registered voters nationwide found that 63 percent oppose an AI data center within 10 miles of their home, while only 13 percent support one. Democrats lead that opposition at 80 percent, with just 4 percent supporting a nearby facility.

Republican voters broadly support continued AI development, yet many reject the power infrastructure needed to support it near their homes. Nearly 55 percent of MAGA supporters want companies to keep developing advanced AI while Congress works on regulations, compared with 27 percent who favor a pause. But only 29 percent would support a data center within 10 miles of home, while 40 percent oppose one.

Among all Republicans and Republican-leaning voters, support for a nearby data center falls to 24 percent. The proximity question was asked of roughly 500 voters and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 4.38 percentage points. The full survey carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Brad Carson captured the local anger: “Many people are annoyed by these data centers.” He also said, “People are also strongly insistent upon reasonable guardrails of AI, and that’s going to be hard to beat.”

That conflict is reshaping political strategy. Republicans who once championed data-center investment are emphasizing utility costs, local impacts and tougher safeguards. When voters were asked about their top concerns if Republicans retain Congress, 18 percent cited a failure to regulate AI and data centers.

That figure tied continued military efforts in Iran and outranked continued Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportations at 15 percent, cuts to health insurance subsidies at 10 percent and an extension of Trump’s tariffs at 5 percent. Even among voters who want Republicans to retain control, 17 percent cited weak AI and data-center oversight, second only to a failure to bring down prices.

Washington’s AI Race Meets Public Resistance

President Donald Trump has cast the AI race with China as a national-security imperative, pushing faster development and a major buildout of data centers and power infrastructure. The public is sending a different message: move ahead only with rules that protect communities and reduce risk.

Overall, 52 percent of registered voters want advanced AI development paused until Congress passes safety regulations, while 32 percent favor moving ahead to keep pace with China. Democrats remain more cautious, with 70 percent favoring a pause and 18 percent supporting continued development.

For now, Democrats hold a modest edge on managing data-center expansion. Thirty-two percent of voters trust Democrats to handle the issue, compared with 24 percent for Republicans, while 27 percent say neither party would do a better job.

The political pressure is reaching individual states. In August, the National Republican Senatorial Committee warned that data-center backlash threatened Sen. Jon Husted’s reelection in Ohio and called the issue a midterm “sleeper.” As Ohio lieutenant governor in 2024, Husted helped announce a $10 billion Amazon Web Services expansion, calling AI facilities “crucial to America’s economic superiority.” He now promotes stalled legislation that would make large facilities cover their own grid and generation costs rather than pass them to residential ratepayers.

Texas tells a similar story. Less than a year after Gov. Greg Abbott called the state an “epicenter of AI development,” he halted data-center permits pending grid and water-impact reviews and called for ending state tax incentives. On Wednesday, Trump said data-center developers should pay host communities a financial “dividend” and generate their own power.

Dan Diorio of the Data Center Coalition said operators are committed to “paying for the energy we use.” The promise faces a public that wants proof, not only pledges.

AI Has Entered America’s Top Fears

Artificial intelligence now ranks among Americans’ top 10 fears, above biological warfare, terrorist attacks and government tracking of personal data. In a long-running survey of 1,200 adults in 2026, concerns that AI will harm the political process ranked as the third most-cited fear.

AI was the only issue to appear twice in the top 10. Seth Benzell said, “People’s fears about AI are much broader than concerns about automation or job displacement.” Those fears include hacking, political damage, lost jobs and the local costs of building the systems that power AI.

The survey, conducted from April 7 to April 21, has run since 2014. People who already used AI were less afraid of its potential effects, researchers noted, and some technologies inspired more hope than fear, including tools tied to clean energy and medical treatments that can extend people’s lives.

Christopher Bader said, “As artificial intelligence becomes more integrated into everyday life, understanding these fears will be increasingly important.” The next phase of AI will not be judged only by what models can do. It will be judged by whether people trust the systems, the companies and the communities asked to host them.

Carson said, “The debate has shifted dramatically,” and that sentiment toward AI has “deteriorated a lot over the last six months.” The numbers point toward a clear test for the industry and government: deliver useful AI with safeguards strong enough for a skeptical public.

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