Despite the hype and widespread use of AI products, most Americans still do not trust the technology, according to several recent polls.
The polls also reveal a fair amount of anxiety about the technology and its potential impact. The polls found that Americans view the technology as a potential threat to their jobs, don't trust companies to use it responsibly, and believe that AI might wipe out humanity.
A December poll by YouGov found that 35 percent of adults use an AI tool at least once a week, with a majority of Gen Zers using it weekly. Despite the usage, users still seem skeptical of the technology's capabilities.
Only 5 percent said they trusted AI a lot, and the technology did not earn a positive trust score in any industry. The lowest trust scores were in finance (19 percent) and health care (23 percent).
That same YouGov poll found that 77 percent of respondents also viewed AI as a possible threat to humanity. The poll found that while younger people were more trusting than older users, they still were skeptical.
Meanwhile, the march toward AI expansion continues unabated. Meta announced a multiyear deal with AMD this week to help propel its AI development efforts, CNBC reported. A week earlier, Meta had agreed to use millions of Nvidia's processors to power its AI efforts.
On Monday, an announcement by Anthropic that its newest version of Claude will be great at updating legacy systems that use COBOL caused IBM's stock to crash 13 percent, CNBC reported. However, on Tuesday, IBM appeared to rebound, up in early trading.
The routine reports of AI's coming transformation of society have had an impact on the public's psyche, according to a slew of recent polls.
A February YouGov poll found that a 58 percent of the country had little faith in AI and did not trust the technology. The same poll found that although 63 percent of respondents said they used AI, only 23 percent used it regularly.
The same poll found that 63 percent of Americans think AI will hurt the economy and eliminate jobs. A poll by Bentley-Gallup found that Americans also don't have much faith in how private companies will use AI, with 79 percent of respondents saying they don't trust companies to use the tech responsibly.
