More than half of Americans are worried that the development of AI will cause them or someone in their household to lose their job, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos survey. The study also revealed a broad anxiety over the technology's rapid adoption.
The survey showed 53% of Americans expressed concern, according to the six-day study that finished on Monday. This concern was distributed pretty evenly among respondents by age, gender, and educational attainment.
A total of 10% of respondents were either unsure or chose not to respond to the question, while 37% of respondents claimed they were not concerned about this at all.
The software company Intuit announced last month that it would lay off 17% of its global workforce in order to streamline operations and sharpen focus on its main bets, including its AI efforts. The Reuters/Ipsos survey came after a wave of AI-related job layoffs by large corporations.
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When Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, talked about the implications of artificial intelligence at a graduation ceremony last month, University of Arizona students jeered him.
Elected officials and even Pope Leo XIV have issued concerns due to its potential use in entertainment, political propaganda, and even warfare.
It's unclear whether the U.S. job market, as a whole, will be negatively impacted by the numerous job losses that have been reported at IT companies. Recent months have seen significant job growth in the U.S. economy.
Republicans, who have drawn more working-class voters since President Donald Trump's ascent, are less sceptical of AI than Democrats, whose party draws more college graduates. Compared to 47% of Republicans, 61% of Democrats expressed concern about AI replacing jobs in their home.
The results of the Reuters/Ipsos survey, which polled 4,531 American adults countrywide, had a two percentage point margin of error in either direction.
Jennifer Schalhoub, a 62-year-old freelance writer from Little Ferry, New Jersey, stated that she just lost her employment sending letters to government authorities to support particular legislation. She believes the development of AI played a part in her loss.
"People are becoming less concerned with the calibre of the job that is generated, which is why AI is taking over," according to Schalhoub.
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In 2022, artificial intelligence gained national attention when OpenAI, a prominent AI company, introduced ChatGPT, a consumer-facing product that could respond to user inquiries like that of a human and provided a new method of internet search that immediately threatened Alphabet, the parent company of Google.
Another AI behemoth, Anthropic, has rapidly gained popularity among business clients, particularly through the sale of computer coding assistance, Claude Code. Anthropic and OpenAI's intentions to offer their companies' shares to the general public have created a lot of excitement on Wall Street.
According to the Reuters/Ipsos survey, 50% of college graduates said they often use AI, compared to 34% of non-graduates and 40% of the general population.
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