As more Americans adopt AI tools, fewer say they trust the results

Americans are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence for help with things like research, writing, school or work projects, and data analysis — but they’re not entirely happy about it.

Even as the use and adoption of artificial intelligence rises, Americans still lack confidence in the new tool, according to a Quinnipiac University poll published Monday. Of the nearly 1,400 Americans surveyed, more than three-quarters said they don’t trust AI — 76% say they trust it rarely or only sometimes, compared to just 21% who trust it most or almost all of the time.

This comes despite the fact that an increasing number of Americans are adopting artificial intelligence in their daily lives. Only 27% said they had never used AI tools, down from 33% in April 2025.

“The discrepancy between use and trust in AI is striking,” said Chetan Jaiswal, a professor of computer science at Quinnipiac University. “51% say they use AI for research, and many also use it for writing, work, and data analysis. But only 21% trust AI-generated information most or almost all of the time. Americans are clearly embracing AI, but they are doing so with deep reluctance, not deep confidence.”

Part of this distrust may come from a sense of fear about the future that artificial intelligence will bring. The survey found that only 6% were “very excited” about AI, while 62% were either not very enthusiastic or not at all enthusiastic. These numbers basically flip around when we talk about anxiety: 80% are either very or somewhat worried about AI, with Millennials and Boomers holding the mantle of most anxious, with Generation Z not far behind.

Half of respondents (55%) say AI will do more harm than good in their daily lives, while only a third say AI will do more harm than good, according to the poll. More people have negative opinions about artificial intelligence than in last year’s survey, according to researchers, which may not be surprising after a year of layoffs at big tech companies, life-ending AI psychoses, and data centers draining the power grid.

Americans across the board oppose building AI data centers in their communities, with 65% saying they do not want to build one, primarily citing high electricity costs and water use.

A majority (70%) believe that advances in AI will reduce the number of job opportunities, while only 7% believe that AI will lead to more job opportunities. This is a shift from the 56% of Americans who last year believed that advances in artificial intelligence would lead to a decrease in jobs and the 13% who believed that artificial intelligence would increase job opportunities. Members of Generation Z, born between 1997 and 2008, are the most pessimistic, with 81% of them anticipating a decline in jobs.

They don’t quite imagine it either. Entry-level job postings in the US are down 35% since 2023, and AI leaders like Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei have warned that the technology will eliminate jobs.

“Young Americans report the highest level of familiarity with AI tools, but they are also the least optimistic about the job market,” Tamila Triantoro, a professor of business analytics and information systems at Quinnipiac University, said in a statement. “AI fluency and optimism here go in opposite directions.”

Interestingly, although most Americans are concerned about the impact of artificial intelligence on the job market as a whole, most do not believe it will affect their jobs specifically. Among working Americans, 30% worry that AI will make their jobs obsolete. However, this is up from 21% last year.

“Americans are more worried about what AI might do to the job market than what it might do to their jobs,” Triantoro said. “People appear to be more willing to anticipate a tougher market than to envision themselves on the losing end of this disruption — a pattern worth watching as technology moves deeper into the workplace.”

Perhaps one of the main reasons Americans have problems with AI is that they don’t believe the companies behind the technology are telling the truth. Two-thirds of respondents said companies are not doing enough to be transparent about their use of AI. The same percentage also say the government is not doing enough to regulate AI. The sentiment comes as states seek to maintain authority over AI rules, even as federal officials — including Trump’s largely watered-down AI framework — and industry leaders call for limited regulation at the state level.

“The Americans are not completely rejecting artificial intelligence, but they are sending a warning,” Triantoro said. “There is too much uncertainty, too little trust, too little regulation, and too much fear about jobs.”