Americans Express Concerns Over AI's Impact on Personal Lives and Human Abilities

Americans Want More Control Over the AI in Their Lives, Pew Survey Finds

Macy has been working for CNET for coming on 2 years. Prior to CNET, Macy received a North Carolina College Media Association award in sports writing. Artificial intelligence is everywhere now, powering song recommendations on Spotify, filling inboxes with AI-written emails, and showing up in classrooms and workplaces around the world. You may not feel like you get much say in where and how AI shows up in your life. You're not the only one. That's the takeaway from a Pew Research Center report published Wednesday, which finds that six out of 10 Americans (61%) want more control over how AI is used in their lives. More than half (57%) say they currently have "not too much" or "no control" at all in whether AI is used in their lives. Just 13% say they feel they have "a great deal" or "quite a bit" of control. It's becoming apparent that Americans may be receptive to AI playing some kind of role in our daily lives, but are resistant to AI involvement becoming unavoidable. Don't miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source. The numbers highlight what Pew calls an "AI control gap," or a widening sense that the choice to opt out is slipping away. AI already powers weather forecasts, financial fraud detection and drug research, areas where Americans told Pew they're comfortable seeing it play a role. But in more personal aspects of life -- relationships, spirituality and creative thinking -- people overwhelmingly want to keep AI at arm's length. The survey shows Americans are twice as likely to rate AI's risks as "high" compared with its benefits, and 53% admit they're not confident they can tell the difference between AI-generated content and human-made work. Still, a large majority (76%) say it's "very important" to them to know the difference. Read also: Most People Use ChatGPT for Personal Life, Not Work, According to a New OpenAI Study The push for more control comes as AI quietly embeds itself in consumer devices and online platforms. From Apple's latest "AI-powered" iPhones to Google search results summarized by chatbots, Americans are bumping into AI even when they don't seek it out. And unlike toggles for ad tracking or location services, tools to manage when AI is used are far less visible. That lack of agency fuels growing skepticism over AI. For instance, half of Americans say they're more concerned than excited about AI's role in daily life, which is 13 percentage points higher than it was in 2021, when AI use was a mere fraction of what it is today. Pew's findings echo broader anxieties surrounding the prevalence and implementation of AI tools. Lawmakers are weighing rules around transparency, safety and consent, while AI companies race to normalize AI in everything from education to health care to the devices you carry with you everywhere. But the Pew survey findings suggest that if companies want to build public trust, they'll need to give people clearer off switches and choices about when AI is adopted, so that AI use feels like a choice rather than an inevitability.

Will AI damage AI human creativity? Most Americans say yes

A majority of Americans don't want it replacing human cognition. A new report on Americans' AI views highlights their concern over the technology's impact on human cognition, like creativity, problem-solving, forming meaningful relations, and making hard decisions. A majority of Americans say that AI will worsen people's creative thinking skills, according to a recent Pew Research Center report. Half of the respondents reported that AI will worsen human's abilities to form meaningful relationships with others. Also: Students are using AI instead of building foundational tools The report arrives at a critical point in AI's role in education. Students are using AI at an alarming rate, and teachers worry that their dependency on the technology will stall the development of foundational skills. Eighty-six percent of students reported using AI in their studies, according to a report by Campbell Academic Technology Services. "As a school teacher, I understand how important it is for children to develop and grow their own curiosity, problem-solving skills, critical thinking skills and creativity, to name just a few human traits that I believe AI is slowly taking over from us," one respondent told Pew. The findings reflect a disconnect between the creators of this technology, who champion its deployment, saying it is one of the most impactful technological advancements to date. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, in a discussion with MIT, said AI is "the biggest, the best, and the most important" of the technology revolutions. Also: AI agents arrive in US classrooms Meanwhile, the general public appears more skeptical. In fact, 76% of respondents reported wanting to know if the media they consume is made by AI. The report wasn't all AI doom and gloom. Americans are more supportive of some AI uses, including its ability to forecast the weather (74%), search for financial crimes and fraud (70%), develop new medicine (66%), and identify suspects in crime (61%). Respondents seemed to be more agreeable toward the more scientific, computational tasks AI can fulfill, while skeptical of its replacement of cognitive tasks tied to the human experience.

Americans want AI to stay out of their personal lives

A new study from Pew suggests that Americans aren't particularly optimistic about AI. A full 50 percent of respondents said they were more concerned than excited about the use of AI in their daily lives. That's down ever so slightly from 52 percent in 2023, but it's up significantly from 37 percent in 2021. Americans expressed a number of concerns about AI, chief among them that it will negatively impact our ability to think creatively and form meaningful relationships with other people. Just 18 percent believed that AI should play any role at all in dating and matchmaking, with just 3 percent being comfortable with it playing a "big role." The theme in general was that Americans are okay with AI performing analysis on large data to, say, predict the weather, or find cures for disease, but they wanted it to stay out of their personal lives. Two-thirds of people want it to stay out of their love lives entirely, and 73 percent believe it has no place advising people on their religious beliefs. Another concern was the spread of misinformation. 18 percent of respondents rated misinformation as their number one concern, behind only its negative impact on human abilities and connections. Americans felt that it was very important to be able to identify AI-generated work, but 53 percent said they were not confident in their ability to do so. Interestingly, in a reversal of what you'd expect with the emergence of new technologies, it's actually younger Americans who are more concerned. 57 percent of those under 30 said they were extremely concerned that AI would erode people's abilities, while only 46 percent of those over 65 said the same. Broadly, though, it's clear that Americans are taking a skeptical eye towards AI. 61 percent said they wanted more control over how AI is used in their daily lives. Unfortunately, 57 percent believe they have little or no control over that.

US Adults Worry AI Will Make Us Worse at Being Human, New Survey Says

There are widespread fears that artificial intelligence will harm our social and emotional intelligence, empathy and sense of individual agency by 2035, according to a new survey published Wednesday by Elon University's Imagining the Digital Future Center. The national survey asked 1,005 US adults to rate how they think AI will impact human capacities and behaviors, including moral judgment, self-identity and confidence. In every area, respondents believed the effect of AI tools and systems over the next decade would be more negative than positive. In terms of the bigger picture, the researchers found that US adults expected AI to have a mixed impact on "the essence of being human" over the coming decade. Two in five (41%) said AI will provide as much good as it will harm, with 25% believing AI changes will be mostly for the worse. Only 9% said AI will change humanity for the better. "The grand narratives about AI have gone in both directions," said Lee Rainie, director of the Imagining the Digital Future Center and one of the report's authors. For as many stories as there are about AI's outstanding abilities, many more show how it can hurt people. The respondents' mixed views on the technology could reflect that. "They do have a sense of these warring narratives," Rainie told CNET in an interview. And the stories are everywhere, as AI grows to play a bigger role in education, workplaces and health care. Tech companies are spending billions of dollars to develop the most advanced AI. Google has integrated its Gemini AI into every part of its business, and ChatGPT's daily active users reached a record high of 700 million in August. As AI tools and systems become more capable and integrated into our lives, it's important to evaluate their impact on how we think, act and do things. Don't miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source. The same survey questions were given to a group of tech pioneers, builders and analysts earlier this year, with some observable differences in how those experts perceive AI's impact on humanness compared to the public. In general, the experts were less pessimistic about AI's impact on human traits, whereas the public reported more concerns about AI harming our intelligence and cognitive abilities, such as the ability to think critically, make decisions and solve problems. Interest in how AI affects our brain's learning processes is not new. An MIT study in July found significant differences in brain activity between people writing using AI versus those who don't. Those who used AI reported a "superficial fluency" but didn't retain a deep understanding or sense of ownership over their knowledge. The study renewed uneasiness over the role AI could play in education and learning. A key theme in recent studies is the concern that people could increasingly delegate important thought processes, like decision-making and problem-solving, to AI. Advances in AI technology are getting better at handling work tasks, and the rise of agentic AI makes it easier for chatbots to complete tasks independently. These semi-autonomous tools can be more efficient than humans in some cases. However, AI isn't foolproof and can hallucinate or make up false information, so letting it take the reins on important decisions can have negative consequences. Another massive concern is the impact of AI on its users' mental health. Individual well-being has been a point of conversation, as more examples emerge of how AI is an inadequate replacement for therapists. Teenagers and children are particularly vulnerable, with more than a few high-profile cases of AI enabling self-harm and suicide. The issue has drawn the attention of Congress and advocacy groups, leading them to inspect the effectiveness of AI guardrails to prevent misuse and abuse.

Americans don't want to turn everything over to AI

Why it matters: Americans are starting to set boundaries for what they want to turn over to AI -- and what they don't. By the numbers: Americans see AI as a way to boost efficiency, but they remain wary of handing over decisions tied to values, relationships or democracy, Pew found. * 74% of Pew respondents said AI should play a role in weather forecasting and 70% said it should help with detecting financial crime. The other side: 66% said AI should not judge whether two people could fall in love. * 60% oppose AI having a role in making decisions about how to govern the country. The big picture: Since 2021, Pew has been asking participants how they feel about the increased use of AI in daily life. * In 2023, 2024 and 2025, about half of Americans said they were more concerned than excited about it. * That's up from 2021 and 2022 -- before the launch of ChatGPT -- when only 37 and 38 percent said they were more concerned than excited. * Only a quarter of Americans now say the benefits of AI are "high" or "very high." Of that 25%, "efficiency gains" was the most commonly cited benefit. Between the lines: Participants in the study also said AI will weaken core human skills. * 53% of Americans believe AI will erode people's creativity. * 50% say it will hurt users' ability to form meaningful relationships. Stunning stat: Although Americans told Pew they want to put boundaries on AI's role in our lives, more than half said they're "not at all" confident or "not too confident" they can detect whether content was created by a human or a bot. * Most Americans say it's "extremely" or "very important" to be able to determine if content is AI-generated. The intrigue: Chatbot interfaces are so open-ended that users who turn to the tools for research may be drawn into using them for more personal, creative or emotional questions. * Anthropic studied how people use its Claude chatbot and found that "in longer conversations, counseling or coaching conversations occasionally morph into companionship -- despite that not being the original reason someone reached out," per a report released in June. What they're saying: Physicians and educators tell Axios that there are real risks in inviting chatbots deep into our personal, creative and religious lives. * AI is "going to fundamentally change us as a human species," pediatric physician Dana Suskind told Axios in a July interview. "I think we need to be incredibly intentional, because we may end up in a place that we never imagined." * It's "not just writing, but reading too, that's being affected so profoundly by these technologies," says Bruce Holsinger, English professor at University of Virginia and author of "Culpability," a novel about a family's struggles with the impact of AI. * Instead of "slowing down and thinking and breaking apart a sentence for ourselves... you just pop a PDF in and say, 'Tell me the main points. What are the takeaways?'" Holsinger told Axios in an interview last month. State of play: Americans are cautiously experimenting with AI, but the Pew data mirrors a growing skepticism of chatbots used for creative pursuits, therapy and intimate companionship, especially when it comes to teens and children.

New Poll Finds That Americans Loathe AI

A new poll by the Pew Research Center has found that Americans are getting extremely fed up with artificial intelligence in their daily lives. A whopping 53 percent of just over 5,000 US adults polled in June think that AI will "worsen people's ability to think creatively." Fifty percent say AI will deteriorate our ability to form meaningful relationships, while only five percent believe the reverse. While 29 percent of respondents said they believe AI will make people better problem-solvers, 38 percent said it could worsen our ability to solve problems. The poll highlights a growing distrust and disillusionment with AI. Average Americans are concerned about how AI tools could stifle human creativity, as the industry continues to celebrate the automation of human labor as a cost-cutting measure. The "generally pessimistic" opinions about AI are significantly more widespread than they were before the advent of OpenAI's ChatGPT just under three years ago, Pew noted. Half of respondents said they were "more concerned than excited about the increased use of AI in daily life," an increase from just 37 percent in 2021. Only ten percent said they were "more excited than concerned," indicating that most Americans simply do not share the extremely optimistic views of tech leaders selling AI products. It's an especially pertinent topic as the lines between AI-generated content and reality continue to blur. AI tools are becoming increasingly proficient at outputting photorealistic images, while text generators are hallucinating facts and convincing users they're real. According to Pew's latest poll, 53 percent of respondents said they were "not too or not at all confident" about their ability to discern between whether something was "made by AI versus a person." Yet 76 percent said it was "extremely or very important to be able to tell if pictures, videos and text were made by AI or people." All this growing disillusionment and distrust could be related to an increase in tech literacy. A recent study published in the Journal of Marketing by an international team of researchers earlier this year found that AI's biggest fans tend to be the people with the shallowest familiarity with the tech. "Contrary to expectations revealed in four surveys, cross-country data and six additional studies find that people with lower AI literacy are typically more receptive to AI," the paper found. In other words, the cat may be out of the bag, with fewer people perceiving AI as "magical" and experiencing "feelings of awe" when using it. Despite the negative reactions, the tech industry has remained steadfast in its belief that AI will ultimately usher in an "era of abundance," as American venture capitalist and noted AI proponent Marc Andreessen put it in a 2024 blog post. Prominent companies also continue to push AI with a striking fervor, making it practically impossible to avoid in our daily lives.

Americans Want AI's Benefits But Fear Losing What Makes Them Human: Survey - Decrypt

The majority admitted they had no control over AI in their lives -- just a digital tide they couldn't stop. Americans are growing increasingly uneasy about artificial intelligence infiltrating their daily lives, with half now saying they're more concerned than excited about the technology -- a sharp jump from 37% just four years ago, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. The study of 5,023 U.S. adults, conducted in June 2025 and published this week, reveals a nation grappling with a fundamental paradox: While 73% say they'd let AI assist with day-to-day tasks, 61% simultaneously want more control over how it's used in their lives. Half of U.S. adults say the increased use of AI in daily life makes them feel more concerned than excited, compared with 10% who are more excited than concerned. However, Americans see AI as both inevitable and threatening to core human capabilities. Some 53% of respondents said AI will worsen people's ability to think creatively, compared with 16% who say it will improve this. Half believe AI will damage people's ability to form meaningful relationships, with only 5% expecting improvement in human connections. "I think a sizable portion of humanity is inclined to seek the path of least resistance," one woman participating in the study told the researchers. "As annoying and troublesome as hardships and obstacles can be, I believe the experience of encountering these things and overcoming them is essential to forming our character." The generational divide shows that the younger the generation, the more exposure to AI they will have in their day-to-day lives. According to the study, 62% of those under 30 say they have heard or read a lot about AI, compared with 32% of those ages 65 and older. Yet these younger Americans, despite their greater familiarity with the technology, express deeper pessimism about its effects. And 61% of adults under 30 think the increased use of AI in society will make people worse at thinking creatively, compared with 42% of those ages 65 and older. The American unease mirrors global trends. Stanford's HAI AI Index Report 2025 confirms that worldwide, ambivalence and worry are increasing even as people appreciate AI's efficiency gains. The tension is particularly acute in developed nations: In 2022, countries like Great Britain (38%), Germany (37%), and the United States (35%) were among the least likely globally to view AI as having more benefits than drawbacks. Trust emerges as another critical fault line. While 76% say it's extremely or very important to be able to tell if pictures, videos, or text were made by AI or people, more than half admit they lack confidence in their ability to actually make that distinction. This trust deficit extends beyond content detection: KPMG's 2025 Global Trust Report found that confidence in AI companies has been falling steadily since 2022. Another interesting finding by Pew Research is that 57% of Americans rate the risks of AI for society as high or very high, while only a quarter seems to be hyped about the technology. When asked to explain their concerns, respondents most frequently cited the erosion of human abilities and connections -- people becoming lazy, losing critical thinking skills, or depending too heavily on machines for basic tasks. This growing wariness contrasts sharply with AI experts surveyed by Pew earlier this year. AI experts are far more likely than Americans overall to believe AI will have a very or somewhat positive impact on the United States over the next 20 years (56% vs. 17%), according to a previous study. The divide between experts and the public reflects deeper tensions about who benefits from AI advancement. Academic studies show marginalized groups -- minorities and people with disabilities -- express even more negative views about AI than the general population, suggesting the technology's benefits aren't reaching everyone equally. In other words, the negative effects of AI technologies are perceived more by groups that are affected by biases or stereotypes -- which generative AI models tend to amplify. Americans do see limited roles for AI in specific contexts -- weather forecasting, detecting financial crimes, or developing medicines. But they draw firm boundaries around personal matters. Some 73% of respondents said that AI should play no role in advising people about their faith in God, and two-thirds reject AI involvement in judging romantic compatibility. The regulatory landscape reflects these concerns. A Gallup-SCSP 2025 study found overwhelming support for stricter oversight, with 72% supporting more government efforts to control that industry. Ultimately, 57% or respondents said they have not too much or absolutely no control in whether AI is used in their lives, which shows that many Americans already feel the technology's advance is beyond their influence -- a digital tide they can neither stop nor fully embrace.